Sean Strickland recently addressed his melee with Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 296 alongside the latter’s trash talk involving his childhood trauma. For the champ, it is something anyone should never cross. Yet, Ian Machado Garry finds the whole thing ironic, recalling how “Tarzan” repeatedly included his wife in his past insults.
Strickland pounded on Du Plessis at UFC 296 while sitting with the crowd. Prior to this, it can be recalled that the challenger brought up Strickland’s traumatic childhood experience with his father, saying:
You think your dad beat the sh*t out of you? Your dad doesn’t have sh*t on me. I’m going to show you what it’s like to get beaten. Every childhood memory you have is going to come back.
For Strickland, this is the major trigger that pushed his actions, noting this is something he will not allow anyone to use to make him the “victim” again. In his recent interview, the champ shared the details of his childhood, underscoring that there are limits in trash talking.
“There’s some things that are off limits,” Strickland explained. “You don’t really talk about a man’s wife, you don’t talk about a man’s kids, and you don’t about a kid being abused. These things are all off-limits. Once he crossed that … I tried to f****** ignore it. I was boiling.
“Whenever Dricus goes on there, and he jokes about that s***, dude, you have no idea. I’ll f****** kill you. You have no idea. I think the issue is too, when you’re a kid and you’re made to be a victim your whole life, as an adult, you’re like never again. I’ll f****** kill you.”
While the details might appeal to some, some find the sentiment quite surprising, given Strickland’s known character as a trash talker himself. Garry, who’s not a stranger in Strickland’s trash talks after the champ encouraged the rumors about his “sexual predator” wife and him, is the latest to point it out.
“How the tables have turned,” Garry commented on an Instagram post by MMA Fighting. “You dish it out in the lowest, most vile manner, but can’t take a pinch. You attacked my wife incessantly and obsessively, calling her a (pedophile).
“It’s clear to see your childhood trauma showing. You claimed you were ‘giving me advice’ before, well now it’s my turn to return the favor: You should shut your mouth and focus on the mirror because you have enough serious issues you need to solve. I wish you all the best with them. Don’t ever project your pain onto me and my family again.”
Garry’s comments echo Du Plessis’s earlier view about Strickland about the fight, stressing how the champ couldn’t take criticisms when he is one of the biggest trash talkers in the industry.
“He goes and he says whatever he wants, and everybody’s just used to him,” said Du Plessis in the UFC 296 post-event interview. “‘Oh, I can say whatever I want,’ and now this one thing. This soft spot’s a trigger for him, and now we’re not allowed to say it.”
