Sean Strickland believes Jack Hermansson will turn into a coward and wrestle him in their UFC Vegas 47 main event fight.
Strickland is known for his boxing while Hermansson is one of the best grapplers at middleweight. However, Strickland says he’s expecting the Swede to wrestle him once he lands a few solid shots.
“I think we’re going to have a dog fight, we’re going to have a war. Once I start touching his face you will see the coward come out and he’s going to try and wrestle,” Strickland said on the UFC preview for their fight. “Your ground game isn’t even in my head, I don’t even think of you as a ground fighter, I just think of you as a victim. I’m going to beat you everywhere this fight goes.”
Hermansson then issued a fiery response in the promo video saying he’s only calling him a coward because he’s afraid of his ground game.
“When people say grappling is for cowards, seems to me that you are afraid of that part of the game. Are you not capable of fighting from your back? I am,” Hermansson said.
There is no question Jack Hermansson’s path to victory is using his grappling to try and submit Sean Strickland. He also told BJPENN.com’s Just Scrap Radio that grappling is a big part of his game plan for this game as he expects to finish Strickland early.
“It is always a big part of my game and I’m also trying to incorporate it whenever it is possible,” Hermansson said. “I think it’s hard for people to prepare for it, everybody is kind of shocked when I hit the ground with them with how good I actually am on the ground. It will be no different with Sean when he feels what I do have on the ground.”
Who do you think will win, Jack Hermansson or Sean Strickland?