Gilbert Burns finds Sean Strickland UFC 312 criticism disrespectful: 'People have very short memories'

Add Gilbert Burns to the list of fighters defending Sean Strickland’s performance at UFC 312.

Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) was criticized for his dominant unanimous decision loss to middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) in this past Saturday’s headliner at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. Strickland broke his nose in Round 4, but many thought he failed to show a sense of urgency throughout the fight.

Burns would like to remind everyone of former UFC middleweight champion Strickland’s past notable wins.

“Maybe he wasn’t feeling good, whatever,” Burns said on his “Show Me The Money” podcast. “We’re never going to know, right? But to say, ‘Oh, he talks a lot, he doesn’t back it up,’ I don’t like that. I think the guy backs it up many times. He backed it up against Imavov, he backed it up against my guy Brendan Allen, he backed it up against so many guys, right? Paulo Costa, (Israel) Adesanya, bro, he beat a lot of the best guys, and people are saying, ‘Oh, he just talks, he doesn’t do much.’

“I think that’s very disrespectful. People have very short memories. It’s the reels day, you know? It’s the TikTok days where you swipe, you see something nice, and swipe again, and it’s gone. But it wasn’t long ago the guy was the champion, fighting everybody. He beat so many good guys, and people are now talking, ‘Oh, he talks a lot, he’s crazy,’ but I like it. And the guy backs it up, or he tries at least.”

Strickland later revealed that he was battling a staph infection which was visibly noticeable on his arm during fight week. Strickland also discussed a broken arm he was dealing during training camp.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 312.