Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) competitor Sean Strickland — who previously called transgender identity a “mental illness” and said he’d consider his son as “weak” and himself as a “failure” if his son ever came out as gay — has been suspended indefinitely from competing.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended Strickland after the Tuff-N-Uff event on June 29 in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the event, video captured Strickland throwing punches at fighter Luis Hernandez. After Hernandez defeated Miles Hunsinger, another fighter who Strickland had been training, he taunted Hunsinger. Then Strickland approached Hernandez and threw punches, some of which landed.

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The commission suspended Strickland, age 34, until he attends an official hearing on the incident, possibly scheduled for August, ESPN reported. In fact, Strickland hasn’t fought since his last bout against former opponent Dricus Du Plessis last February.

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State athletic commission suspensions are recognized nationwide, and the UFC has almost always abided by them internationally, writes sports journalist Ryan Harkness. Because other UFC fighters have previously faced nine-month suspensions after physically assaulting fighters, Strickland could remain out of action until April 2026, if he’s given a similar punishment. Strickland is currently ranked No. 2 in the UFC’s middleweight division. 

In December 2021, Strickland said that he would think he had “failed as a man” if he ever had a gay son, writing, “If I had a gay son I would think I failed as a man to create such weakness. If I had a whore for a daughter I’d think she just wanted to be like her dad lol!!”

When a reporter asked Strickland about his quote in a December 2024 interview, Strickland told the journalist, “You’re a weak f**king man, dude,” Strickland replied. “You’re, like, you’re part of the f**king problem.” You elected [Canadian Prime Minister] Justin Trudeau. [inaudible] You’re just pathetic.”

“Here’s the thing about Bud Light: Ten years ago, to be trans was a mental f**king illness and now, all of a sudden, people like you have f**king weaseled your way in the world,” Strickland said after the reporter asked him about UFC’s partnership with Bud Light. In April 2023, Bud Light sponsored a 50-second Instagram video that featured transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, and many conservatives are still very angry about this.

“You are an infection,” Strickland said. “You are the definition of weakness. Everything that is wrong with the world is because of f**king you.”

At the time, Fox News host Jesse Watters and current Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth both praised Strickland for his anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.

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