Upcoming UFC events announcement: Fans taken aback at unexpected Sean Strickland main event matchup

Sean Strickland has been booked to headline a UFC fight night this summer. However, fans were seemingly unimpressed with Strickland for accepting the matchup.

The UFC middleweight contender is slated to clash against newcomer Abus Magomedov in a five-round affair on July 1. Magomedov is currently unranked in the middleweight division and will make his sophomore UFC appearance against Strickland.

However, the Dagestan-born German is a veteran of the sport, boasting a 25-4-1 professional record. Stats aside, Magomedov also displayed his true caliber in his promotional debut at UFC Paris last September. The 33-year-old went on to knock Dustin Stoltzfus out in nineteen seconds, recording the fourth fastest KO in history by a UFC debutant.

Meanwhile, Sean Strickland is coming off an emphatic decision win over a surging Nassourdine Imavov earlier this year that marked the end of a two-fight skid. Prior to getting starched by Alex Pereira in July 2022, Strickland mounted a six-fight winning streak to make himself relevant in title talks.

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Fans left bewildered by the announcement of Sean Strickland's next fight

Sean Strickland is currently ranked No. 7 at middleweight while Abus Magomedov is yet to break into the rankings. While Strickland is widely known for being game to fight anyone, fans were surprised to see him accept this one.

Some believe that the middleweight contender must really not care about his ranking to have accepted a booking against an unknown, unranked tough opponent. A fan wrote:

"Hermansson, Vettori, Topuria, Magomedov. Why is Sean risking his ranking like that? Haha he must not care about the belt"

Others believe the UFC is trying to get rid of Sean Strickland by feeding him to the 'wolves'. Fans wrote:

"THEY ARE TRYING TO GET RID OF SEAN 🤦🏾‍♂️"

"Damnnnn why they do sean like that"

Check out more comments below:

"Strickland matchup is weird"

"I mean what is that Strickland fight"

"These fights are [fire] but Sean vs Abus is the biggest WTF fight of the year"

"Magomedov gonna beat strickland good fight for abus to move up rankings."

"I was expecting Strickland vs Driscus. Wonder what he did to get fed to the wolves"

Image courtesy: @ufc on Instagram