Sean Strickland has clarified where he stands on a potential UFC exit, and his frustration goes beyond the money he wants for his next title defense. A day after threatening to quit the UFC, the middleweight champion explained why he feels his run with the promotion has become untenable at this point.

In a video shared on his Instagram, Strickland blasted the UFC’s pay structure, arguing that it forces fighters to keep competing long after they should be able to walk away, potentially putting both their health and their legacies at risk.

“Let me tell you something about the UFC, and I’m gonna say the quiet part out loud that nobody says,” Strickland said. “You’ll go, you watch these champions, right? These, like, savages of the sport, man. They run the division, and they take an L, and then they come back, and they just, like, man, they just fight like three or four times. They get f—ing flatlined. ‘You’re like, dude, what happened to you?’ And you realize the UFC happened to them. They just don’t care anymore.

“The UFC, they don’t pay you enough money to walk away like, man, life is f—ing good. I’ve dedicated my life to this. I put the time in this. The UFC builds a legacy. They keep you right here, but they build the legacy, and they don’t pay you enough, so you have to come back and ruin your legacy. I just don’t want to do that, man.”

Strickland then explained that he still wants to compete, but would rather pursue boxing than continue fighting under the same pay in the UFC.

But if the promotion refuses to accommodate that, he appears prepared to fulfill his contractual obligations, but in a way that would make the UFC brass pretty angry.

“I’m not into it anymore. I want to fight. I want to box. I want to win a boxing title, so we’re trying to work that out,” Strickland added. “But if the UFC says, ‘Hey, we’re not going to do that, we’re going to make you fight,’ well, I’m going to stick and move.

“You guys are going to boo. Hell, I’ll f—ing boo with you while I’m doing it. Just stick and move, collect my check, and then move on. But, I mean, hell, here we are.”

His comments offer a clearer picture of his UFC exit stance. Strickland has not announced an immediate departure. Instead, he wants to explore opportunities in boxing and earn enough from his career to walk away on his own terms, rather than feel compelled to keep fighting due to the UFC’s meagre pay.

Sean Strickland’s latest remarks follow a public dispute over his compensation that has put his planned title defense against Nassourdine Imavov in jeopardy.

Yesterday, the UFC middleweight champion took to X to compare his pay with Conor McGregor‘s reported $30 million purse for his fight against Max Holloway at UFC 329 in July. Strickland argued that the promotion was unwilling to pay him even a fraction of what McGregor made for his 69-second fight.

He also threatened to vacate his middleweight title, move up to 205 pounds just to run out his UFC contract, and then box someone like Jake Paul for a substantially larger payday.

According to reports, Strickland wanted at least a $1 million purse to fight Imavov, while the UFC offered $400,000 to show and another $400,000 to win.

This brought the total purse of the fight to $800,000, one-thirtieth of what the UFC reportedly paid McGregor for a non-title bout. The two sides, as a result, failed to agree upon an acceptable purse for the UFC 335 headliner in December.

As such, the promotion eventually moved on from the fight and instead booked Charles Oliveira to defend his BMF title against Diego Lopes.

While dismayed that the negotiations fell apart, for Sean Strickland, however, the issue goes beyond the headline figure.

A fighter’s purse is not the same as take-home earnings, particularly when the cost of preparing for a championship bout is considered. Coaches, training partners, nutritionists and recovery specialists can all add to the expense of a title camp.

Islam Makhachev‘s camp for his lightweight championship fight against Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 reportedly cost around $1 million. If Strickland were to spend even a quarter of that amount preparing for Nassourdine Imavov, a substantial portion of his reported earnings would go toward merely preparing for the fight.

That financial pressure helps explain his broader argument. If fighters have to keep taking bouts to build the financial security they need, they may feel compelled to return to the Octagon even when the physical toll makes stepping away a more sensible choice.

Although Strickland did not single out a particular fighter, former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson previously spoke about how his earnings affected his retirement plans.

Johnson never earned a million dollars in a single UFC fight, despite being a champion and being considered one of the best ever. In a 2016 interview with Submission Radio, he said that even after spending four years as champion, he had not made enough money to retire comfortably in his 30s.

His experience shows the financial pressures that can persist even for fighters who reach the highest level of the sport. Winning championships and establishing a lasting legacy do not automatically guarantee the financial independence needed to leave competition on one’s own terms.

That is at the heart of Sean Strickland’s argument.

He does not want to spend years building his reputation only to keep fighting because he has not earned enough to walk away comfortably. His interest in boxing offers a possible alternative, allowing him to make huge amounts of money by competing outside the UFC.

Sean Strickland reveals Jake Paul offered him a bag of money  

Strickland also openly discussed pursuing boxing opportunities, including a potential fight against Jake Paul and a matchup with Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia.

In the same Instagram video, the UFC middleweight champion pointed to his accomplishments inside the Octagon and argued that he had earned the right to pursue another challenge.

“So, you guys, I fought for the title four times, I won it twice, beat all the boogeymen in the division,” Strickland stated. “Hell, I fought half the division already, man. I want to box. I want to go put a f—ing boxing title on my mantle. I deserve it. Hell, I don’t even do what I may, I’d just box.

“I will put hands on any boxer. Jake Paul wants to give me a big old bag of money to fight him. I’m under contract, fine. I’ll go to Zuffa. I’ll go beat your cruiserweight champ, easy.”

However, the point remains that Strickland is under contract with the UFC, meaning he cannot simply move ahead with a boxing fight without resolving his contractual obligations.

For now, Strickland’s immediate future remains tied to the UFC, even as he considers his options elsewhere. His negotiations with Imavov have exposed the disagreement over his compensation, but his latest comments reveal a more fundamental concern about what fighters receive in return for years of competing at the highest level.

Whether the UFC responds to his demands, allows him to pursue opportunities outside the promotion, or finds a way to revive the stalled title defense now remains to be seen.