"He's connecting so well" - Chael Sonnen talks about how Sean Strickland's popularity is growing toward "top 3 star" status

Chael Sonnen recently appeared on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani and had some very lofty things to say about UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland.

Strickland has garnered a lot of fame recently, not just for his personality and his remarks, but also for his fighting prowess. In particular, Strickland gained newfound respect following his dominant win over Israel Adesanya to win the 185-pound title.

While speaking to Helwani, Chael Sonnen discussed Strickland's rise to fame. He said:

"He [Strickland] was on the fence to being canceled. He was right on his way tobeing canceled, and he won. The stuff that he pulled in Australia prior to the fight, oh my gosh, it would make you so nervous watching it, and then he won. All of a sudden, it changed. All those weird things he was saying started to be interesting things, they started to be cool things."

Sonnen noted the shift in how fans perceived Strickland after his win over Adesanya, and went on to add that this put Strickland on the path to being a "culture warrior."

Sonnen continued:

"And the reasons he can away with it is because of what you [Helwani] said, he's connecting so well...It's fascinating, Sean Strickland is only one or two wins away from being a top three star."

Check out Chael Sonnen's comments on Sean Strickland here (27:31):

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Sean Strickland issues response to Dricus Du Plessis' comments

Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis got into a back-and-forth that quickly turned very personal. The two are set to face each other at UFC 297 next month, and they were on stage at the UFC's 2024 Seasonal Press Conference.

At one point, Du Plessis made certain comments pertaining to Strickland's father and the alleged abuse he dished out to a young Strickland. This hit a nerve with the champ, who was outraged at the South African.

In fact, the two were even seen brawling in the crowd at UFC 296 and had to be separated by security. Strickland took to X (formerly Twitter) to react to Du Plessis' verbal assault, writing:

"I go hard on everyone I know this, izzy mouth feeding his dog, Dricus kissing his coach and grabbing his cup. Omally talking about sharing his wife in a podcast. You're a man, on a world stage doing this in public And what do you pick? 'You got abused as a kid ha'"