"You start fantasizing about it" - When Sean Strickland revealed having thoughts about killing people

Sean Strickland has gained notoriety for his controversial personality and is known for sharing his unfiltered opinions on serious of topics, even admitting to having thoughts of killing people.

Strickland reportedly grew up in an abusive environment which seems to have shaped his unusual personality. During his appearance on the Food Truck Diaries podcast, he spoke about his state of mind while growing up.

‘Tarzan’ was expelled from the school and felt extremely angry. His mind went to the darkest places during this phase of life and he he admitted have fantasized about hurting people. He said:

“I was angry. People just love this whole Jeffrey Dahmer thing - and I'm not trying to eat people and f*** dudes. But I understand what that's like to fantasize about something and fixate on something to a point where you start trying to act it out. So when I was younger, I just fantasized on violence. I wanted to f***ing kill somebody. I wanted to stab somebody.”

Watch Sean Strickland make the statement below [37:45]:

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Sean Strickland says MMA career gives his life a purpose

Sean Strickland believes that pursuing a career in MMA helped him get his life on track. The 32-year-old has admitted to this on several occasions. Following his win over Uriah Hall in 2021, he said that he would have been committing crimes if it weren’t for MMA and the UFC.

In the octagon interviewHe said:

“I just wanna fight. I wanna fight, wanna make money. As long as there’s that [UFC] logo under my feet, and I’m fighting, I’m happy. Fighting gives me purpose. If I wasn’t in the UFC, I’d probably be cooking meth in a trailer in prison. I’m grateful for the fans, to the UFC, you guys that give me purpose. I appreciate that.”

Watch Strickland share his thoughts below [1:14]:

The difficult upbringing didn't stop Strickland from achieving his full potential as the Xtreme Couture standout won the UFC middleweight title by defeating Israel Adesanya in Sept. 2023.

Strickland lost the belt to Dricus du Plessis in a closely contested title fight at UFC 297. However, another title shot does not seem out of the realm of reality for the 32-year-old.