Sean
Strickland is confident that training partner Sadibou Sy
could duplicate his Professional Fighters League success in the
UFC.
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Sy will attempt to win the welterweight championship for a second
consecutive year when he faces Magomed
Magomedkerimov at the
2023 PFL Championships on Friday at the Anthem in Washington,
D.C. The main card airs via pay-per-view on ESPN+ beginning at 8
p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
The 36-year-old Swede has won seven straight outings since 2022,
showcasing a varied striking arsenal that includes a skilled jab, a
toolbox of kicks and knees in close quarters. During the current
PFL season, Sy has scored a pair of spectacular finishes against
Jarrah
Al-Silawi and Shane
Mitchell. Strickland, the UFC’s reigning middleweight king, has
seen Sy’s skills firsthand.
“He would be the welterweight champion [in the UFC],” Strickland
said on his YouTube channel.
“Then I’d probably have to fight him for the middleweight belt.
Sadi is the best striker I’ve ever sparred. Proof is in the
pudding, man. We’ve all seen your highlights. Generally when I spar
Sadi, I’m like, ‘F—k, this sucks. Why can’t I hit you, Sadi?! This
is bulls—t.’”
While Sy’s tendency to wait for countering opportunities has led to
him being involved in some closely-contested decisions, Strickland
says that approach is part of what makes him such a difficult
stylistic matchup.
“I’ll tell you what makes Sadi so good: The f—ing man thinks,
dude,” Strickland said. “When he’s sparring, he just like – he’s
calculated, he understands, you know? To be a really great standup
artist, a lot of it comes from the mind. If someone gives you an IQ
test, what do they test? They test you on reading patterns,
predictability. When you’re sparring, all you’re doing is reading
patterns and finding out predictabilities. High-level striking is a
big IQ test.”
Sy perviously faced Magomedkerimov in the 2021 PFL playoffs, where
he dropped a unanimous verdict to his Dagestani foe. He hasn’t lost
of fight since then.