"It happens to us all" - When Sean Strickland hilariously recalled Dominick Cruz stealing the girl of his dreams 

Sean Strickland is one of the biggest stars in the UFC and enjoys the fame and perks that come with it. However, during a less-prosperous time, he had his heart broken by Dominick Cruz.

Sympathizing with a fan who had been cheated on by his girlfriend, 'Tarzan' reminisced how the bantamweight legend once stole the girl of his dreams. In a post on X in 2021, Strickland wrote:

"Dominick Cruz took a girl from me once man about 12 years ago... It happens to us all."

The middleweight champion elaborated that he was in love with her at the time, while she was probably just a random girl for Cruz.

The often controversially outspoken fighter didn't stop there, further claiming that he was too young to handle such a pretty woman in his life, while the former bantamweight champion was more experienced in that regard.

'Tarzan' is set to make his first title defense against Dricus du Plessis this Saturday in the main event of UFC 297 at the Scotiabank arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Strickland holds a record of 28-5.

The oddsmakers have the fight as a close one. A report by The Athletic has the American champion as a -125 favorite over the South African challenger (+105 underdog).

The pay-per-view will be quite lucrative for the UFC, with Dana White reporting that it has raked in a live gate of $7.6 million and broke the record for the highest-grossing arena event in Canada.

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Sean Strickland says he wanted to headbutt Dricus du Plessis

The anticipation surrounding UFC 297 was greatly elevated because of the bad blood between the headliners stemming from Dricus du Plessis joking about Sean Strickland's abusive childhood at the UFC 2024 season press conference last year. Now, 'Tarzan' has revealed that he wanted to headbutt his opponent.

During a recent segment on his YouTube channel, the 32-year-old claimed that he would have headbutted du Plessis at the face-off following the press conference if not for Dana White:

"Oh, I was about to try to break his f*****g nose. So right before that moment, I was f*****g loading up for a f*****g headbutt, and then Dana pushed me back."

Catch Sean Strickland's comments below (16:19):