UFC star Jared Cannonier has defended Sean Strickland in the midst of recent criticism he’s received following UFC 312.

Last weekend, Sean Strickland came up short in his attempt to recapture the UFC middleweight championship. He challenged Dricus du Plessis for the belt – the same man who took the title from him. Unfortunately for Sean, he wound up on the wrong side of a fairly convincing one-sided beating.

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He also suffered a broken nose in what proved to be a nightmare day at the office for him. In the days since then, Strickland has received criticism from fans – and his own coaches – who felt as if he could’ve given more to the fight.

Jared Cannonier, who has fought Strickland in the past, recently had the following to say on the matter.

Cannonier’s view on Strickland

“Congratulations to both competitors for making it out not as concussed as everybody hoped they would,” Cannonier told reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “‘To the death.’ Everyone keeps repeating it and throwing it in Sean’s face. It was a scrap as expected. DDP fought as expected, Sean Strickland fought as expected, and we’ve got ourselves another championship fight in the books.”

“I thought he went in there and competed for five rounds in a world-title match, and came up on the short end of the stick with a broken nose,” Cannonier said of Strickland. “People wanted him to sustain more damage than that. We live in a sadistic world where people want to see other people go through some sort of pain and take pleasure out of that.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie

What are your thoughts on how Sean Strickland performed? Let us know, BJPENN Nation!