Video: Strickland Details Abuse — ‘That’s The Tip Of The Iceberg’

After a long wait, video from Sean Strickland’s eye-opening (and very emotional) interview with Theo Von has been released, where UFC’s Middleweight champion discusses his childhood abuse.

Video has been released for the Theo Von podcast This Past Weekend where Sean Strickland opens up about the abuse he suffered from his father.

Dricus Du Plessis turned that abuse into fodder for smack talk during a UFC 297 pre-fight press conference in December. Strickland would jump him cageside at UFC 296 over the insult. Given how horrific the situation was in the Strickland house when Sean was a child, we’re not surprised.

We’ve previously touched on Strickland’s shockingly raw appearance on This Past Weekend but now there’s video of the podcast that shows Sean’s emotions as he discusses the memories. He said he used to hide under his parents’ bed at night in order to protect his mother from his abusive father.

“My dad gets on top of my mom, and I remember he said, ‘I’m going to f—ing kill you tonight,’” Strickland said. “Maybe it’s just rough sex, we don’t know at this moment. I’m under the bed, and he starts strangling her. I get out, and the only thing I can see is a guitar, I just f—ing crack him in the head and call the cops.”

“I run down the street to call the cops, he’s arrested, and my dumb ass mom bails him out of jail. I would say that’s the tip of the iceberg.”

“I remember I used to just sit there and hug my mom’s leg in the kitchen,” he continued. “We had this little nook, and she would go in the nook, and I would sit there and all night long, I’m by the feet of my mom with my dad [saying] ‘I’m going to f—ing kill you!’ He would talk about burning her face with acid.”

“I’m in elementary school. He’d always tell her, ‘If you cheat on me’ — and she probably was cheating on him — ‘If you cheat on me, I’m going to cut you up and put you in a bottle of acid and bury you.’”

Strickland has said he plans on making Du Plessis pay for the “off limits” things he’s said. Ian Garry has come out of the woodwork to call Strickland a hypocrite that hits at off limits topics all the time. In today’s UFC, we doubt it’ll be the last time it’s brought up.

Strickland vs. Du Plessis goes down at UFC 297 on January 20th from Toronto, Canada.