UFC veteran slams "sadistic" fans for criticizing Sean Strickland's game plan against Dricus du Plessis: "People wanted him to sustain more damage"

Sean Strickland has been receiving some flak from people within the mixed martial arts community for his UFC 312 performance, but a previous opponent of his isn't joining the pile-on. Strickland fell short in his efforts to become a two-time middleweight champion and also lost for a second time to Dricus du Plessis at the recently concluded pay-per-view in Sydney, Australia.

The South African champion broke Strickland's nose in the bout, but many still criticized the American challenger for not taking more chances and fighting defensively. However, one of his former opponents, Jared Cannonier, does not share the same sentiment.

At media day ahead of his headlining bout against Gregory Rodrigues this weekend, the former title challenger congratulated both du Plessis and Strickland before slamming fans for expecting the latter to fight harder. Cannonier said:

"Congratulations to both competitors for making it out not as concussed as everybody hoped they would. 'To the death.' Everyone keeps repeating it and throwing it in Sean's face. It was a scrap as expected. DDP fought as expected, Sean Strickland fought as expected, and we've got ourselves another championship fight in the books."

He added:

"I thought he went in there and competed for five rounds in a world title match and came up on the short end of the stick with a broken nose. People wanted him to sustain more damage than that. We live in a sadistic world where people want to see other people go through some sort of pain and take pleasure out of that." [H/t: MMA Junkie]

Watch Jared Cannonier's full appearance at media day for UFC Fight Night 251 below:

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Sean Strickland responds to his coach who described his UFC 312 effort as "uninspiring"

Sean Strickland even caught flak from Xtreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick, who cornered him at UFC 312, and the former champion has since responded. Nicksick appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show after Strickland's second loss to Dricus du Plessis, labeling his fighter's performance "uninspiring."

Check out Eric Nicksick's comments below:

Nicksick claimed that he was disappointed with Strickland's effort and that the polarizing 185-pounder needs to re-evaluate his priorities: if he wants to fight for money or if he wants to be a world champion.

Strickland responded to Nicksick by intimating that the Xtreme Couture head coach would likely not be cornering him again going forward. While he made it clear that he still considers Nicksick a friend, he said he'll likely have other coaches from the Las Vegas-based gym in his corner for his next bout.

Check out Sean Strickland's response below: