Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa will compete live from Newark, New Jersey, in just over a few hours. The former champion will look to solidify his justification for a title rematch with a solid performance. On the other hand, Costa would like to rebound to win the column with an upset. Before UFC 302, though, ‘Tarzan’ has named his best training partners.
Sean Strickland gets a brashy rep for unapologetically speaking his mind. Nevertheless, the 33-year-old takes the scope of fighting quite seriously. He often even douses his overt love for violence, although he has systemic techniques for it. In a live session with CBS Sports’ Shakiel Mahjouri (@ShakMMA), he recently named his best yet toughest pick for training partners.
My two hardest sparring partners are, Sadibou Sy…from PFL…He’s just fu*king fast and difficult. And the Johnny Eblen from Bellator. He’s actually…me and this man, it’ll be like a chess match…so calculated…So Johnny Eblen and Sadibou Sy are probably my two best and hardest sparring partners…
Sean Strickland to CBS Sports’ Shakiel Mahjouri (@ShakMMA)
Sean Strickland is quite a good notable agent in the upright, orthodox stance. 28-6 MMA and 15-6 UFC currently, he boasts phenomenal numbers on the UFC’s official Significant Strike Defense stats. Hard to hit, harder to be hit from; that’s his motto. As Joe Rogan and even Alexander Volkanovski put it, he spars more than he trains to keep the momentum flowing. Then how come he enlists help outside?
Xtreme Couture MMA coach Eric Nicksick says he is quite the team player and stablemate in the room. Yet he opted for the 2022 PFL Welterweight World Champion Sadibou Sy. Before his maiden title defense this January, he yet again sparred with Bellator MMA’s middleweight champ Johnny Eblen. Paulo Costa remains an athletic challenge ahead; maybe these extra measures signal positive changes in prepping.
Sean Strickland once lauded ‘best striker’ Sadibou Sy as his go-to pre-fight challenge
One of Strickland’s main training partners at Xtreme Couture happened to be rematching Magomed Magomedkerimov in their welterweight final Friday at the 2023 PFL Season. Ahead of this, the benevolently violent Sean Stickland offered to pitch in as Sadibou Sy’s usual sparring partner.
Sean Strickland would warrant a lot of stylistic prepping before facing Paulo Costa (Source: heavy.com/X)Back then, the former champion prepared in full force for his defense against Dricus Du Plessis in the UFC 297 main event on January 20. Sy, now 16-8-2 MMA, proved a worthy challenge. Taking to his Official YouTube channel, the UFC middleweight raved about the difficulties in processing his striking abilities.
He [Sy] would be the welterweight champion [in the UFC], …Then I’d probably have to fight him for the middleweight belt…Sadi is the best striker I’ve ever sparred. Proof is in the pudding, man…When he’s sparring, he just like – he’s calculated, he understands, you know? To be a really great standup artist, a lot of it comes from the mind.
Sean Strickland via his Official YT Channel (@SeanStricklandUFC)
Strickland had similarly intense sparring sessions all week with Bellator’s middleweight counterpart, Eblen, for his UFC 302 camp. Like him, the #7 ranked middleweight Paulo Costa also partakes in explosive sparring sessions at the UFC PI, rather than just his camp. Although 1-3 in his last four outings and prone to a consistent output for only up to three frames, ‘The Eraser’ looks good in his fiery scraps. Their battle at UFC 302 can prove to be a high-pacing highlight of the night.
