"Best UFC champ" - Fans in stitches over Sean Strickland's interpretation of Natasha Bedingfield's track 'Pocketful of Sunshine' 

Sean Strickland is back to his controversial ways. After stunning the MMA world by dethroning Israel Adesanya as the UFC middleweight champion, 'Tarzan' maintained a relatively low profile on social media by his standards. That is to say, he didn't say anything necessarily controversial to draw significant fan attention.

Now, however, he has taken to X/Twitter to share his thoughts on pop star Natasha Bedingfield and her hit song 'Pocketful of Sunshine.' The middleweight champion first described the song as 'gay' with a negative connotation before claiming that its subject matter was about substance abuse.

Sean Strickland's tweet can be viewed below (WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE):

His comments drew an immediate response from his fandom, with an equal measure of both support and criticism. It is not the first time that Sean Strickland has made controversial statements, and this continued conduct represents his general pattern of behavior on social media.

One fan, who seemed to be at a loss for words, said the following to the middleweight champion, accompanying his comment with a laughing emoji:

"Bro"

Another fan referred to Strickland as the best champion on the UFC roster:

"Best UFC champ!"

However, other fans took issue with Strickland's mischaracterization of the song, with one of his followers opining that the song was not about recreational substances but politics:

"It actually is not aboud drugs. It's about politics."

Some of the other criticism took a swipe at Strickland's general rhetoric on social media:

"Wow another corny tweet"

A collage of fan reactions can be seen below:

Fan reactions

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Sean Strickland's best friend is another UFC middleweight

MMA is a sport that prioritizes and rewards individualism. Thus, most fighters don't form friendships with each other, especially if they compete in the same division, as they might one day cross paths inside the octagon. This, however, isn't the case with Sean Strickland, whose best friend is another 185-pounder.

In fact, the pair host a podcast together. The friend in question is none other than fellow MMA 185-pounder Chris Curtis. Not only are both men close friends, but they're also training partners, and Curtis is among the few people who believed in Strickland's chances against Adesanya.