Sean Strickland breaks character over unexpected apology to Khalil Rountree, leaving fans in disbelief ahead of UFC 307

Khalil Rountree Jr. will face Alex Pereira for the light heavyweight throne at UFC 307. However, this will not be an easy task. To win the fight, Pereira has found an unlikely ally in Sean Strickland. “Poatan” asked Strickland to attend his training camp, and “Tarzan” was happy to offer his services to the champion.

This really spiced up the title fight, as “Tarzan” and Rountree Jr. already have a long history together. Strickland has often taken shots at “The War Horse” in interviews or on social media. He no longer just called him a cult member, but one “Liberal Cck Beta Man” in one of his interviews. However, it seems as if “Tarzan” is finally trying to bury the hatchet, as Rountree Jr. recently revealed. A move that shocked both the challenger and the fans.

During UFC 307 media day, “The War Horse” dropped quite the bombshell when he revealed that Strickland had actually apologized to him for his previous comments. While answering a question about how Strickland helped Pereira train, Rountree Jr. revealed that he recently had a backstage interaction with “Tarzan” at the Performance Institute where the former middleweight champion thanked Rountree Jr. for it apologized for going too far.

“The War Horse” said: “Out of the blue, Sean Strickland comes up to me. He came up to me and just said, “Khalil, I apologize, I'm a fool.” Actually, I kind of like you. I think you're liberal, but overall… I like you, or I respect you.' Something along these lines. So I took it as squashing almost any beef.”

This was a fairly unexpected move from Strickland and one that could have surprised Rountree Jr. But he can't be blamed for being taken aback by Strickland's apology, because even fans couldn't believe that an out-and-out trash talker like “Tarzan” would ever apologize for the statements he often makes. As a result, fans were quick to share their reactions to the big claim.

Fans believe Rountree's claims

Once the video of Khalil Rountree Jr. talking about Sean Strickland hit the internet, it didn't take long for it to go viral in the MMA community. And why shouldn't it go viral? An apology from Sean Strickland is a rare sight. It was so rare that some fans found it hard to believe the story The War Horse told. However, one statement made fans believe the claim. Which statement? The one about Rountree Jr. being a liberal. Because “Tarzan” takes its politics too seriously. As some fans wrote, “I like you, but I think you’re 100% liberal,” Strickland would say, LOL.”, “The 'I think you're a liberal' lets us know he really did talk to D'Sean, LOL.” And “Strickland just judges everyone based on their politics and where they come from, right?”

However, the claim also led others to believe that Strickland was all hats and not livestock. Some users wrote that “Tarzan” was just a keyboard warrior who went crazy the moment he met “The War Horse.” This isn't the first time he's talked nonsense, but he's never gotten into a real argument. Here's what some users wrote: “Sean became the greatest keyboard warrior” “Sean just talks.” And “Strickland’s energy switches whenever he sees these people in public.”

One user even claimed that Strickland would now deny having such a conversation with Khalil Rountree Jr. in order to preserve his bad boy image. One that he portrays on screen to entertain fans while his opponents are at a distance. A technique that has been followed by the likes of Sean O'Malley and Conor McGregor. The user wrote: “Incoming video or tweet from Sean about how things didn’t go that way.” Well, it was certainly interesting to see a new side of Strickland. But what do you think? Is Rountree Jr. telling the truth? Or is this his way of playing mind games ahead of UFC 307? Let us know in the comments.