Sean Strickland sincerely promotes his training partners.
Strickland occasionally trains with Professional Fighters League middleweight Johnny Eblen (17-1) at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida. Eblen is scheduled to fight Impa Kasanganay (20-6) for the interim PFL middleweight title on July 18 at PFL Austin and the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champ is backing his compatriot to come out on top.
Sean Strickland wants to see Johnny Eblen in the UFC
Strickland believes Eblen will go on to win the PFL middleweight title. While it’s hard to decipher when the polarizing champion is joking around and when he’s serious, Strickland claims he’ll then take on Eblen for the UFC title.
“This guy’s a savage. This guy’s gonna win the [PFL] belt, go to the UFC, he’s gonna get one fight, and then we’re gonna fight for the belt,” Strickland said on Instagram Stories. “I don’t know who’s gonna f**king win, but we’re gonna f**king fight.”
Eblen suffered his lone professional loss against current PFL middleweight champion Costello van Steenis in a huge upset last year. He has since rebounded with a stoppage win over former UFC fighter Bryan Battle this past March. Strickland has been speaking very highly of Eblen for quite some time now, advocating for his UFC signing.
A middleweight title fight headlines PFL Austin: Tune on Saturday, July 18 at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN.
