Sean Strickland shares two-word reaction to intense sparring photo with UFC middleweight Michel Pereira

Sean Strickland recently voiced his expressions about his sparring session with fellow middleweight contender, Michel Pereira. The exhibit from the session bore testimony to its intense nature.

Strickland had his last fight against Dricus du Plessis at the main event of UFC 312. 'Tarzan' put up an incredible show of his resilience by continuing to fight with a broken in the latter rounds. But his rival outmatched his performance and subjected him to a unanimous decision defeat.

Strickland has a reputation for sparring hard irrespective of whether he has a fight coming up or not. A recent Instagram post from Pereira showcased how Strickland resorted to this nature during one of their recent sparring sessions. It isn't clear how many rounds the two sparred for, but the snap and caption to Pereira's post detailed that it made him put in a lot of "work".

Strickland reciprocated the Brazilian's thoughts about the sparring sessions with different verbiage. The former middleweight champ shared 'Demolidor's' post as his Instagram story with two words to express his views about it. Strickland penned:

"War today!"

Sean Strickland's story. [Screenshot courtesy: @stricklandmma on Instagram]

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Eric Nicksick gutted to witness the lackluster performance for Sean Strickland in previous fight

Eric Nicksick has appreciated the dedication Sean Strickland shows in his sparring sessions multiple times. However, Strickland's coach was thoroughly unimpressed by his disciple's half-hearted approach against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312.

Strickland was visibly outmatched by du Plessis in the initial rounds, while he kept on playing a safe game refraining from unleashing his full potential. Nicksick kept on urging Strickland to go no-holds-barred after every round, but 'Tarzan' wasn't left with much power in the end to level the scores due to enduring a nose-break from one of du Plessis's strikes.

Nicksick expressed disappointment regarding Strickland's restricted approach after his UFC 312 loss. In one of his post-UFC 312 appearances on The Ariel Helwani Show, Nicksick labeled Strickland's performance as "uninspired fighting":

"It was just uninspired fighting to me. It just seemed like [Strickland] was sleepwalking... I was just trying to get him out of it through the rounds. I didn't know if he was trying to collect data in the beginning or if it was just a slow start... To travel all the way [to Australia], and let's not forget, this is a title fight and I take these title fights very seriously. I was just disappointed, man. I was disappointed with the whole entire outcome."

Check out Erick Nicksick's comments below: