"Had to let him go" - UFC legend Dan Henderson recalls when "disrespectful" Sean Strickland got banned from the gym

Dan Henderson has opened up about Sean Strickland getting ousted from his gym owing to disrespectful behavior. Henderson, an MMA legend and former Olympic wrestler, competed in several top-tier MMA organizations over the course of his career.

'Hendo' held the welterweight and middleweight titles in Pride FC, apart from also winning the Strikeforce light heavyweight belt. The combat sports great extensively competed in the UFC too, before retiring from MMA in 2016.

Meanwhile, Sean Strickland has risen to prominence in recent years. 'Tarzan' notably captured the UFC middleweight title with a dominant unanimous decision victory over UFC megastar Israel Adesanya in September 2023. Over the past few years, Strickland has primarily trained at the Xtreme Couture gym and the RVCA Training Center, besides working at other gyms from time to time.

A few years back, Strickland trained alongside Henderson at the latter's Team Quest gym. In an appearance on the JRE (Joe Rogan Experience) podcast this month (October 2023), 'Hendo' spoke to UFC commentator Joe Rogan about the time Strickland was banned from the Team Quest gym. Henderson stated:

"He was at my gym for like, three years. Yeah."

In response to Joe Rogan alluding that the 32-year-old Sean Strickland is a polarizing personality and is "a wild boy," the 53-year-old Dan Henderson said:

"Yeah. Kind of had to let him go... He just kind of gets too involved, talking sh** about people. I liked him in the gym. I liked him there. He was a great training partner. You need at least one guy in your gym that does that, and goes hard, and makes everybody else go hard when they're going against him. So, I liked it. But... He just was too disrespectful to teammates and stuff."

Henderson added, "I always rooted for him when he left... I always rooted for him. I thought he had a ton of potential."

Watch Henderson discuss the topic at 0:09 in the video below:

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Sean Strickland and Khamzat Chimaev exchange jibes ahead of potential UFC title fight

Unbeaten UFC star Khamzat Chimaev secured a majority decision win against Kamaru Usman at UFC 294 on October 21, 2023. Following that, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed that Chimaev would fight UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland for the latter's title next.

'Tarzan,' for his part, lambasted 'Borz.' Strickland asserted that Chimaev doesn't deserve a UFC middleweight title shot after beating a welterweight fighter in a middleweight bout on short notice.

On the other hand, Khamzat Chimaev seemed to hark back to when he and Sean Strickland trained and sparred with one another. Taking a shot at his former sparring partner, 'Borz' warned that he'll swiftly finish Strickland when they clash inside the octagon. Jibing at 'Tarzan,' Chimaev tweeted:

"@SStricklandMMA you are next don’t worry you know haw fast I can finish you"