UFC legends Chael Sonnen and Daniel Cormier slam "crazy" Sean Strickland backlash after Dricus du Plessis loss: "I was proud of his effort"

Chael Sonnen and Daniel Cormier have defended Sean Strickland after the MMA community criticized his performance against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312. The UFC Hall of Famers admitted that sometimes things don't go as planned and expressed their admiration for Strickland's tenacity.

For context, Strickland faced du Plessis in a middleweight title rematch at UFC 312. 'Tarzan' came into the fight with a lot of confidence that he would give it his all in the octagon, but he was unable to inflict any significant damage on his opponent.

Meanwhile, 'Stillknocks' displayed his striking prowess and broke Strickland's nose in the fourth round. Their bout lasted five rounds and du Plessis retained his middleweight title via a unanimous decision victory.

Strickland's performance drew criticism from the MMA world, including his coach, Eric Nicksick. Sonnen and Cormier, however, defended the former champion.

During the media day for the upcoming 'The Ultimate Fighter 33', the two UFC legends, who also serve as opposite coaches, discussed Strickland's loss. Cormier argued that things don't always go as planned, saying:

''People are kind of piling on this guy. It’s kind of crazy how much people are piling on, when, sure, he lost. But sometimes you get beat. You know what’s crazy? I get it. Someone people can say, ‘I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that.’ Dude, sometimes it just doesn’t f*cking work.''

Sonnen concurred with Cormier and expressed his pride in Strickland's resilience, saying:

''Yeah, why (so much hate)? Did he do bad? I was proud of his effort...he can stay out there for another 12 minutes taking an ass-whooping because it was honorable, or he could quit. He chose to stay in there and take an a*s-whooping.” [H/t: MMA Junkie]

Check out the full video below:

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Sean Strickland opens up about his future cornermen

Following UFC 312, Sean Strickland's MMA coach Eric Nicksick slammed him during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show.

Strickland recently turned to X to respond to Nicksick's comments, claiming that the latter will no longer be in his corner, saying:

''I like Eric. He’s a friend of mine and he’s going to continue to be a friend of mine. Will he probably be in my corner? Probably not. We have so many great guys at Xtreme [Couture], Nate [Pettit], Ray Sefo, we have so many savages that I would love to corner me."

Check out Sean Strickland's comments below: