Lately, a lot of that grinding has been done with Magomed Ankalaev, the streaking light heavyweight contender who has once again returned to Xtreme Couture to finish out his training camp in advance of his bout with Anthony Smith at UFC 277.
“Ankalaev has been in the gym, and me and this guy, we don’t give an inch; the first minute to the last minute is a battle,” said Strickland, who followed up his twin fall victories in 2020 with a pair of decision wins in 2021 before getting the nod over Jack Hermansson earlier this year to keep his winning streak intact. “When me and Ankalaev spar, the moment the round is done, we’re both like, ‘Thank God that I don’t have to do this anymore.’
“We did four rounds straight the other day, MMA grappling, and the round was up, so we both kind of walk to a separate mat to get away from each other, and then no one wanted to go with either of us, we were left without partners, so we looked at each other like, ‘I guess we’ve got to go again?’”
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Strickland laughed at the recollection, seemingly pleased to be able to affirm his outcast status, but also because he genuinely loves battling with the indefatigable Russian monster.
“It sucks because we both — me and him, we don’t stop,” he said, picking back up. “No one wins, no one loses; it’s just a non-stop progression of suck. When you’re going with somebody that high level, you’re not going to win. He’s not going to win with me, so it’s just back-and-forth trying to see who is going to slow down, and when you’re going with a guy like Ankalaev, who, in my opinion, is going to be a world champion, there is no slow down, there is no quit; it’s just miserable.”
And Strickland loves the misery.
