While former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland is no stranger to making controversial comments about anything that comes to mind, it’s rare those comments are picked up anywhere outside native MMA media.
That changed Wednesday night as Variety published a piece covering Strickland’s comments from a press conference earlier in the day where he took aim at musician Bad Bunny as well as Ronda Rousey and women’s sports in general.
During Wednesday’s presser to promote his fight with Anthony Hernandez this Saturday on Paramount+, Strickland twice used a gay slur to reference Bad Bunny and his Super Bowl halftime performance, also pantomiming the NFL making a decision to “gay it up” and “bring in a gay foreigner who doesn’t speak English” in an effort to “f**king ruin the sport.”
Variety reached out to both Paramount and UFC but had not heard back. Paramount is also a partner with the NFL.
Strickland also was asked about the announcement of Rousey fighting Gina Carano in May, suggesting they fight “half naked” while putting over Rousey’s abilities while then joking she “lost a few fights to her ex” — a reference to a violent incident with a past boyfriend Rousey discussed in a book.
He also discussed Carano, saying he was a kid when she was fighting and that he pleasured himself to her “once or twice back in the day.”
He also said that “no one gives a f*ck about women’s sports,” adding that there is nothing wrong with women because they can do great things like cooking and cleaning.
UFC head Dana White has been hesitant, if not defiant, in punishing any fighters for outlandish comments in the past, notably from Bryce Mitchell who last year praised Adolf Hitler, denied the Holocaust happened, and blamed Jewish people for turning people gay. He remains under contract.
It appears unlikely Strickland will suffer any punishment this time around given that precedent.
Former football player turned media personality Robert Griffin III also denounced Strickland’s comments on his X account which has over two million followers.
Pro wrestling was well-represented in this year’s ‘Dealmakers’ list by entertainment publication Variety.
Announced on Wednesday, AEW head Tony Khan, WWE president Nick Khan, and several TKO executives (Ari Emanuel, Mark Shapiro and Andrew Schleimer) were named to the list which recognizes major players and deal makers in the entertainment business.
Khan was actually the first name listed in the feature and made it based on the new “reported $185 million a year” multi-year deal he signed with WBD to keep Dynamite and Collision on TBS/TNT in addition to being simulcast on Max.
The article also stated, “The company is now valued at more than $2 billion, making it the third-most-valuable combat sports company in the world.” They did not cite their source for the valuation.
A quote from Khan touted that AEW will be “the first professional wrestling promotion to simulcast events weekly on top cable channels and a top streaming platform.”
Nick Khan and the TKO executives were all listed in their own blurb, citing the massive decade-long $5.2 billion deal they signed with Netflix for WWE content. There were no quotes from Khan and just a relatively boilerplate note from Schleimer on “the downstream impact and ancillary benefits to being with the distributor and just south of 300 million homes globally was something that got us very excited.”
Joseph Currier recaps Extreme Rules, which saw Brock Lesnar cash in to again become Universal Champion.
Sunday’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view ended with Lesnar cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Seth Rollins to win the Universal title. After Rollins & Becky Lynch defeated Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans in the main event, Lesnar and Paul Heyman came out with the briefcase. Rollins charged at Lesnar, but Lesnar gave him two German suplexes. The bell rang to start the match — and Lesnar hit an F5 to again become Universal Champion.
Rollins will get his rematch for the Universal title at SummerSlam next month. He won a number one contender’s battle royal on the post-Extreme Rules edition of Raw, defeating Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Corbin, Rey Mysterio, Sami Zayn, Big E, Bobby Lashley, and Cesaro.
Rollins’ three-month reign as Universal Champion ended up being pretty lackluster. It started strong with a great defense against AJ Styles, but Rollins’ matches were only as good as his opponents allowed them to be. It’s difficult to succeed when the majority of your PPV title defenses are against Corbin.
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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer radio covering Raw, AEW and the latest news. You can send questions for tonight’s show to [email protected]
Tonight’s show has evidently been a ton of headaches. There was more than one segment written that had to be changed today because talent involved were flagged by medical from doing anything physical. Many segments have been changed at the last minute, and not due to Vince changing his mind, but due to things medical wouldn’t allow to happen.
AEW is expected to make some kind of announcement on Wednesday. We don’t know what it is but it’s coming very close to the time to announce the time slot for the show.
Variety, of all places, had a major story on the decline in WWE television ratings.The story was titled that basically Vince McMahon has run out of excuses as they lead into Thursday’s investors conference where the second quarter numbers will be released. With WrestleMania and the Saudi Arabia show in the quarter, the theory is it should be tremendously profitable. But WWE did indicate there won’t be big profits this year until quarter three, when the new TV money kicks in. They noted Raw down 20 percent and Smackdown down 17 percent year-over-year. AEW was also mentioned. (thanks to Christopher Cruise and many others)
Pro Wrestling Sheet reported today that Steve Guerreri and Steve Oppenhim, two of the key Smackdown writers who have been with the company for seven and eight years respectively, were let go.We were told that this decision had been coming for some time and is not related to either Paul Heyman or Eric Bischoff. We were able to confirm the story after PWS released it.
WWE
Steve Austin has ben announced for an on-stage Q&A on 8/17 in San Jose, CA at the Silicon Valley Comic Con put on by Steve Wozniak. This will take place at the San Jose Convention Center, across the street from the old Civic Auditorium. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be coming on 8/18 and Lou Ferrigno and Jason Momoa are also scheduled.
The names advertised for tonight in Fort Myers are Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton, Kevin Owens, Charlotte Flair, Bayley and Dolph Ziggler. That doesn’t mean they’ll be there or won’t be on Raw, as we’ve seen weekly.
This was the latest list of those scheduled for Raw tonight: Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, John Cena, Ric Flair, HHH, Shawn Michaels, Road Dogg, Sean Waltman (latter four in a DX remake), Eric Bischoff, Jillian Hall, Eve Torres Gracie, Jonathan Coachman, Kaitlyn, Alicia Fox, Melina Perez, Kelly Kelly, Sgt. Slaughter, Diesel, Razor Ramon, Mick Foley, Charles “Godfather” Wright), Booker T, Sid Vicious, Mark Henry, Lilian Garcia, Santino Marella, D-Von Dudley, Ted DiBiase, Rikishi, Jerry Lawler, Ron Simmons, Christian, Kurt Angle, Hurricane Helms, Jimmy Hart, Pat Patterson, Alundra Blayze, Gerald Brisco and Boogeyman.
PW Insider reported and had a photo showing Rob Van Dam merchandise being at the concession stand tonight, which would be a tease of a surprise.
With the list of names coming back, particularly Austin and Hogan, the show should be the first this year to top 3 million viewers. A similar show in January 2018 without Hogan did 4.53 million viewers, so that’s probably a number to remember when figuring out the drop in casual audience who may watch one nostalgia show a year as compared to 17 months ago.
MISCELLANEOUS
Starrcast over Labor Day is going to not have as many bells and whistles. The full schedule announced is:
Thursday, 8/29
7 p.m. All Out press conference and weigh-ins
8:30 p.m. Tony Schiavone interviews Cody for a Q&A
Friday, 8/30
10 a.m. Dean Malenko Q&A
Noon – Women of AEW q&a
2 p.m. Colt Cabana Art of Wrestling podcast
4 p.m. MJF
8 p.m. Jim Ross interviews Jon Moxley
Saturday, 8/3110 a.m. Mick Foley Q&A
Noon C.M. Punk Q&A
The debut of Myles Jury in Bellator will be on the 9/27 show in Dublin, Ireland, where the former UFC fighter will face Benson Henderson.
Legacy Fighting Alliance announced these dates for AXS shows
8/30 in Riverside, CA at the Municipal Auditorium,
9/6 in West Valley, UT at the Maverik Center
9/13 in Wichita, KS at the Hartman Arena
*9/27 in Prior Lake, MN at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel.
