Former UFC Fighter Believes Sean Strickland Won’t ‘Evolve’ With His ‘Constant Sparring’

Sorry, “Tarzan” sparring every time you train won’t help.

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight champion Sean Strickland tried to exact revenge at UFC 312 tomorrow night (Sat., Feb. 8, 2025) when he takes on current Middleweight kingpin Dricus Du Plessis inside Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Training has been done, weight has been made, and all the two Middleweights have to do is throw down tomorrow, but recently retired former UFC fighter Matt Brown believes Strickland’s constant sparring will ultimately hurt him in the long run.

“The problem with the constant sparring, a lot of people talk about the brain damage and stuff like that. I don’t think that’s nearly as big of a deal as people make it out to be. But you don’t evolve quite as much. You’re not compartmentalizing little skills and building on them,” Brown told MMA Fighting. “The advantage is he gets his timing very well; he knows exactly what he’s looking for all the time, knows himself very well as a fighter, and doesn’t get as nervous. There’s a lot of advantages.”

“You don’t evolve doing that,” Brown added. “What happens, particularly when you’re going live a lot, is you only use your top five or 10 techniques because you’re constantly worried about getting hit, so you’re just using your best technique. If you’re going live wrestling, you’re just using your best shot all the time. That’s why you have to break them down and sometimes even go a little with the flow to get a little more creative. You have to break them down so you actually get better and build that confidence so that you can use that live.”

It is no secret that Strickland loves sparring and prefers sparring over any other MMA training, but hey, he became a UFC champion after being a middle-of-the-road fighter at the beginning of his UFC career, so something must be working.

Right?

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 312 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN2/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, before the main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 312: “du Plessis vs. Strickland 2” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.