"He does that stupid Philly shell" - Former rival weighs in on how Sean Strickland would do in bare-knuckle despite not being a "massive puncher"

Sean Strickland could do well if he ever dropped the gloves and entered bare-knuckle boxing according to a former UFC opponent of his. While he has big business looming at UFC 312 with Strickland aiming to avenge a prior loss to Dricus du Plessis and become middleweight champion again, one can't help but wonder how the former UFC titleholder could do in bare-knuckle.

Appearing on a recent episode of Bare Knuckle Bowker, Jack Marshman touched on multiple topics before his throwdown with Alex Wilson at BYB 36: Cardiff Brawl 2 on Feb. 1. When asked how he thinks his former UFC opponent would do in the world of bare-knuckle boxing while referencing their Halloween 2020 fight, Marshman said:

"He [Strickland] kept asking me why I wouldn't go down and stuff. But in my opinion, he's not a massive puncher. Obviously I know he dropped [Israel] Adesanya in a good win. But he's not a big puncher and he's more really accumulative. So in a five, three minute round fight, he'd probably cut people to ribbons. Because he's constant bang, bang, bang, bang."

"He's long and he's really difficult to hit. He does that stupid Philly shell thing. You watch tape on it and think I'll catch him here, I'll catch him here, but he's really, really hard to hit. He's got a weird style. There aren't many guys in the gym that you can train with what he does. So that's what makes him difficult but yeah, he's good. I think he'd be good."

Check out Jack Marshman discussing Sean Strickland's potential aptitude for bare-knuckle boxing below (15:08):

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Sean Strickland will be cornered by a former opponent at UFC 312

Speaking of former UFC adversaries of his, Sean Strickland will have a prior opponent as part of his corner for this next outing. This news came from Strickland's head coach Eric Nicksick who first mentioned this anecdote during a recent interview with The Schmo.

The 33-year-old will have quite the big name as his fourth coach for this Dricus du Plessis rematch as Alex Pereira is expected to serve in that role for Strickland in the coming days. The current UFC light heavyweight champion clashed with Strickland inside the octagon in 2022 when Pereira was still at 185 pounds and on his path to middleweight gold.

In the intervening years since Pereira knocked out Strickland, the two men have developed a close training relationship with one another as the two have gotten in a lot of good sparring rounds.

The California native looks to avenge his loss to du Plessis from January of last year although curiously enough, Pereira has also indicated a level of curiosity in returning to middleweight someday to fight du Plessis.