Strickland mobbed by fans and chased into police car at UFC White House press conference

UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland turned the UFC White House press conference into chaos Friday night after being forced to reveal himself to the crowd, sparking a fan frenzy that ended with him taking refuge in a nearby police car.

Strickland, who is not competing at the UFC White House event, arrived wearing a hoodie in an attempt to watch the press conference unnoticed. The plan unravelled when security officers instructed him to remove it. Despite warning them of the consequences, Strickland eventually complied — and the crowd immediately recognised him.

“I had my face covered, literally sitting there watching the press conference,” Strickland said in video footage of the incident. “These cops come up to me and are like, ‘Hey, you gotta take off your hoodie.’ I’m the Middleweight champion, if I take my hoodie off, it’s gonna be f—king bad, I can’t do it.”

After repeatedly resisting, Strickland relented and asked the officers to stay close. They did not. “I take off my hoodie and he shines a flashlight in my face, and the crowd just loses it — and these cops take the f—k off,” he said.

The situation escalated quickly. Strickland was swarmed, kicked one fan in the leg during the melee, and was ultimately chased into a police car to escape. “The boys in blue just saved my life. We almost died,” he said in one of several videos he posted about the incident.

The appearance itself had been a point of controversy. Strickland had previously claimed he was banned from attending the UFC White House event altogether, a claim UFC CEO Dana White publicly denied.