UFC commentator Laura Sanko
would rather see fighters scuffle than get personal with their
trash talk.
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Sean
Strickland is scheduled to defend his middleweight title
against Dricus Du
Plessis in the main-event at UFC 297
on Jan. 20 in Toronto. Things turned ugly between the two during a
seasonal 2024 press conference where “Stillknocks” brought up the
champ’s abusive childhood.
Strickland latter admitted that he was definitely triggered by the
comments, which led to him attacking the South African while
attending UFC 296 the next day. Strickland was seen leaping over
chairs and throwing punches Du Plessis before being separated by
police and escorted out of the T-Mobile Arena. Sanko admittedly
prefers the physical scuffle between the two at UFC 296, as it
saves ugly trash talk potentially involving the fighters’
families.
“I realize what game we’re in. I actually prefer guys have physical
fights than do this s—t, if I’m being honest,” the UFC commentator
said in an interview with Michael
Bisping. “Because that way the family doesn’t get dragged into
it, and that way there’s not statements and altered photographs
that live on the internet for years and years and years for your
kids to have to Google. If you’re going to get into a fight with
each other then go for it. I actually liked the fact that he fought
Dricus and I liked how [he] handled the whole situation.”
Strickland recently went on comedian Theo Von’s “This Past Weekend”
podcast, where he shared harrowing details of his traumatic
childhood. Sanko appreciated Strickland showing a more vulnerable
side.
“Listen, I’m a huge fan of Sean as a fighter and as a person. All
his antics aside, they don’t really bother me,” Sanko said. “But he
kind of walked right into that. Like, you can’t… I watched his
video with Theo Von and I thought… I commended him for it, I
thought it was incredibly moving. I thought it was honest, I
thought it was open, I think he will help a lot of people by being
as vulnerable as he was.”