“Just hope he's alright” - Fans left shocked upon seeing Sean Strickland's alarming post weight cut condition during interview

Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya will face off at UFC 293 in a battle for middleweight supremacy. Their bout will be 'The Last Stylebender's' first title defense since reclaiming the 185-pound strap from Alex Pereira in the pair's grudge match. Meanwhile, this will be Sean Strickland's first UFC title fight.

While 'Tarzan' successfully made weight for the main event, his condition left fans worried after he barely got through an interview following the weigh-in. Strickland looked drained and could barely focus on the questions being asked, as he openly admitted how difficult he found the weight cut.

Fortunately, he was spared the difficult ordeal of having to sit through more questions while clearly needing to rehydrate himself. Daniel Cormier and Laura Sanko, both former fighters, opted against asking him any more questions and urged him to begin rehydrating.

The entire situation left fans with a great deal of concern for 'Tarzan', after a clip of the post-weight cut interview was shared on X (formerly Twitter). One fan expressed their belief that interviews right after a weigh-in should be stopped and that fighters need to be given time to rehydrate before they're asked questions:

"Post weigh in interviews shouldn’t be a thing, let fighter’s rehydrate. These are hard to watch sometimes"

Another fan pointed out that, as a wrestler, Daniel Cormier understands the struggles of weight cutting better than non-wrestlers:

"Wrestlers understand the pain. He was having flashbacks forsure"

One comment sympathized with Strickland's ordeal, stating that personal feelings aside, they hope the middleweight title challenger is doing fine:

"Feelings aside, you gotta just hope he's alright."

Another fan remarked on Strickland's size:

"He is not a small lad."

Check out a collage of fan reactions below:

Fan reactions

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What happened when Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya came face-to-face at the pre-fight press conference?

The UFC 293 pre-fight press conference took place yesterday and was not lacking in explosive moments that generated greater intrigue in the main event. Sean Strickland is known for his outlandish trash-talking, while Israel Adesanya is similarly aggressive when it comes to verbally attacking his foes.

However, the complexion that their interaction took on at the press conference was different. While Strickland frequently jabbed at Adesanya, calling him a Chinese fighter and bringing up the controversy surrounding the champion's pet dog, Adesanya opted against engaging with him for the most part, barring a few lines.