"He has tried to murder me" - Teammate Chris Curtis says he'd fight Sean Strickland for the belt "in a heartbeat"  

UFC 297's main card is off to a great start as Chris Curtis defeated Marc-Andre Barriault by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27) at the ScotiaBank Arena, Canada.

During the post-fight interview, Curtis was asked if he sees himself getting a title shot someday, to which 'The Action Man' questioned if he would get to fight Strickland:

''Dude, he tries to kill me for free, I might as well collect the big check, like guys understand, he's like a brother to me, he's also tried to murder me, like in practice, he's tried to murder me outside of practice.''

Curtis continued:

''We've been kicked out of like three gyms for fist fighting each other, so sh*t's gonna happen regardless, I might as well get paid.''

Catch Curtis' full comments below:

Sean Strickland and Chris Curtis are close friends who train together at Xtreme Couture.

The two middleweights have admitted to getting into fist fights with each other at the gym but have always put the blame on the other person.

Strickland recently posted a picture of himself and Curtis in the gym that re-ignited the whole argument. 'The Action Man' said that it was from their second fight in the gym.

In both fights, Curtis accused 'Tarzan' of striking first. Strickland responded by sarcastically apologizing for his actions and accusing Curtis of charging at him at the gym.

''Yeah sorry for throwing the first punch... When you came running at me from across the mat calling me a motherfu**er I thought 'Oh man, Curt's about to attacked me.' I didn't realize you just wanted to hug and talk about communism..."

Curtis and Strickland have teamed up for a podcast that was revealed earlier this year as 'The Man Dance Podcast'. He and Strickland are a fun team, so it will be interesting to see where they go from here.