Strickland escapes serious injury as helmetless ATV rolls six times at 60mph

Sean Strickland survived a violent ATV accident this week, escaping with minor head and shoulder scrapes after the vehicle rolled six times at approximately 60mph — while the UFC middleweight champion was not wearing a helmet.

Strickland, whose record stands at 31-7, shared footage of the aftermath on Instagram, describing the moment his friend lost control of the vehicle. “I let my buddy drive; he rolled us going, like, 60. We rolled, like, six times,” Strickland said. “I did not have a helmet on. I’m an idiot.”

Despite the severity of the crash, Strickland said he believed he was largely unharmed, though he described himself as being in a “bad place” immediately after the incident. His passenger, identified in a follow-up post as Chris Cornell, fared worse — losing consciousness at the scene and being taken to hospital. “He just went asleep for a little bit,” Strickland said, adding that he believed Cornell would recover.

In a characteristically candid assessment, Strickland called it “the most fun thing I’ve done in a very long time” before acknowledging the financial cost of the crash. His sponsor, Rainbet, has reportedly agreed to cover the damages.

The ATV incident is the second accident Strickland has been involved in within the space of a week, following a separate fall from a dirt bike days earlier. It also echoes a far more serious motorcycle crash in 2018 that kept him out of competition for nearly two years.

The timing raises questions about his immediate future inside the octagon. Strickland is rumoured to be defending his title in December in a rematch against Nassourdine Imavov, though the back-to-back accidents could complicate preparations for that bout.