Orlando Sanchez explains his side of the Sean Strickland scuffle

Rising UFC middleweight contender Sean Strickland got into a bit of an altercation with BJJ world champion Orlando Sanchez this past week.

Strickland and Sanchez were caught on video at RVCA in California practicing some grappling. Ultimately, it ended in less than a friendly manner as Strickland threw a spinning back fist and teep kick to Sanchez after Sanchez attempted an alleged “dirty” arm crank.

“I’d never met him before in my life,” Sanchez told FloGrappling. “I had no clue who he was, who he is, nothing. Everybody thinks it was like a training camp video where I was his training partner. This guy just kept talking sh*t. He just kept running his mouth. He said he’d do some wrestling rounds, so coach [Jason Parillo] was like ‘Do a round with Orlando!’ He started talking stupid stuff about Jiu-Jitsu and goes ‘regardless of who you are or what you’ve done, I’m still going to beat you up.’ It didn’t bother me but I was like is he talking to me?”

The No. 11 ranked contender in Strickland (23-3) is set for his biggest fight to date when meeting with the No. 8 Uriah Hall in the main event of UFC Vegas 33 on July 31.

Following the spat between Strickland and Sanchez, this was a talking point not only on the scene but in reaction online.

“I didn’t know he had a fight… nothing,” Sanchez claimed. “He’s not my training partner, he was some guy saying he was going to beat my ass. It was nothing to hurt him, those that know me know I wouldn’t intentionally hurt a training partner. It’s not a dirty move, if you’re cranking it all the way up and not letting go then okay. I knew how far I pushed it, it went about two inches to wake him up and he had his reaction, but literally, right after the video, he apologized. I don’t hold anything though.”

Sanchez finished by sharing that he received several threats from “fake accounts” saying they wanted to kill his mom and things alike.

“It’s all good, it’s all love,” he said. “You can’t expect to say ‘I’m going to beat you up’ and not expect anything. I got hundreds of messages saying [Strickland] is a bully and goes around beating people up [in the gym].”