Sean Strickland targets top 5 opponent despite interest from Till

As always, Sean Strickland wants to fight, and fortunately for everyone, he has two names in mind to return from his four-month lay off, but Darren Till isn’t one of them.

On Friday, Darren Till told Michael Bisping on the ‘Michael Bisping Podcast’ that he wants to get back in the Octagon, and is targeting a return in March for the UFC’s rumoured return to London. ‘The Gorilla’ spoke deeply about his latest loss to Derek Brunson and how it will shape him as a fighter moving forward with his career, he said: “That was a tough loss to take, no disrespect to Derek, he was the better man on the night, I know I can win that fight easily on my best day and I know it sounds cliché but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and all these things are aligning for a better thing for me.

“I enjoy the set backs and this is another set back, I don’t want to have another set back in my MMA career.”

The English Middleweight went on to say that after his loss to Brunson, he stayed in Vegas for a needed change of scenery and alone time. Till is hopeful that his path is going to play out exactly the same as Bisping’s did, ending in capturing the title. “I feel like me and you, well I know you had your path, and I’m going to have the very same path. I know what I am, and I know what fighter I am, I know I’m one of the best fighters out there.”

So where does Sean Strickland come into this?

During the Podcast, Till mentioned that he’s been given a few different options for his return, one being Strickland. “One fight I really like is Sean Strickland, they offered it him as well and I actually said to Sean, ‘Sean you know if you wanna get it on at some point lets do it cause I think you’re a good fighter’.”

Strickland on the other hand isn’t a fan of that matchup. Strickland is currently on a 5 fight win streak, occupying rank 7 in the middleweight division, and he only has eyes on climbing the middleweight ladder and not fighting anyone ranked below him. On Sunday, the former KOTC middleweight champion shared a tweet stating the two names he wants. “Anyways I’m not fighting Darren Till. I want Costa and if Costa can’t put down the wine and cookies I want Jack (Hermansson).”

Paulo Costa currently occupies rank 5 while ‘The Joker’ occupies rank 6. Costa is coming off the back of a unanimous decision loss to Marvin Vettori in what ended up as a catchweight bout. Hermansson on the other hand last fought under the UFC banner in May, but on Friday, he was defeated by Welterweight superstar, Khamzat Chimaev, in a freestyle wrestling match at Bulldog Fight Night 9.

There are still question marks over whether Paulo Costa will stay at middleweight, or if he will finally move up to light heavyweight after his history in struggling to cut weight, and most recently, having to have his scheduled bout with Vettori moved to a catchweight of 205lbs. Dana White isn’t one to mince his words and when it came to talking about Costa’s weight troubles, nothing changed. At the UFC Vegas 41 post fight press conference, White said: “He’s going to have to fight at 205.

“He’s a light heavyweight, you saw him tonight he’s massive. He cannot make 185lbs. Paulo Costa has to fight at light heavyweight from now on.”

So with Dana looking to shut down the possibility of another Costa bout at middleweight, Sean Strickland’s next opponent may likely be Jack Hermansson, however, I wouldn’t shut down the possibility of a tempting UFC London main event versus ‘The Gorilla’.

Who would you like to see Sean Strickland face next, and look to make it 6 in a row? Let us know down below!