Alex Polizzi on Sparring with Sean Strickland: He Wants to Bring His Team Up

Alex Polizzi believes Sean Strickland’s intentions are to always pull his teammates up, even though the UFC fighter might appear a bit harsh at times.

Polizzi has been promoted to the main event spot at PFL 2 opposite Impa Kasanganay at The Theatre at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas on Friday after Phil Davis was forced out of the originally scheduled headliner against Rob Wilkinson. Going into matchup, Polizzi is putting in work with the likes of UFC veterans Chris Curtis and Sean Strickland at the Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas.

Never very far from the headlines, Strickland recently generated more controversy by putting a beating on streamer Sneako during a sparring session. While many believe Strickland could have gone easier on the untrained streamer, Polizzi doesn’t have an issue considering it was consensual.

“It’s kind of what you said, a lot of fighters want to, not all are gonna do it,” Polizzi said in an interview with The AllStar. “But that’s the thing, Sean’s gonna do Sean. And that’s always been his thing, whether you react well to it or not, that’s where he is. He stands by what he says and he stands by what he does…He’s just a solid dude… Look as far as opinions on beating up streamers, as long as it’s consensual, I say go for it. He put on gloves, he stepped to Sean, that’s all right with me.”

Strickland is known for his love of sparring and also amping it up with his signature in-cage chatter. According to Polizzi, while Strickland may be seen cursing at his sparring partners on some occasions, the former UFC champ is mostly trying to motivate his teammates.

“I think sometimes online you’ll get the Sean yelling, calling the people who he is sparring with various genitalia and whatever,” Polizzi said. “That’s not as helpful, but I mean at the same time that’s Sean’s way of motivating you, trying to get a rise out of you because maybe he feels like the energy level is a little low. And he’s trying to pick you up. And as far as talking outside of just general insults or, ‘Come on, let’s go, let’s go.’ Yeah, that helps. If you watch any other sport where there’s coaches and teammates going on and you can hear them. Yeah, you wanna stay stuff, you wanna be moving and that’s the thing.

“Granted, it’s contextual depending on who Sean is beating the ass off at the time, but I think when we’re sparring as a team, he wants to help bring his team up. Because as I said before, it’s a team sport. If he helps me become a better fighter, then I’m a better fighter to help make him a better fighter. Yeah, I mean it can be a little bit much for some people but maybe that’s just getting used to Sean’s ‘Seaning.’”