A reigning UFC world champion explains why he believes that women should not be allowed to vote, but MMA fans are getting tired of the schtick. Sean Strickland is back on social media with another argument against women having the right to vote, saying he believes women are “far too compassionate” to govern a functioning society.

The UFC middleweight champion addressed the backlash to his earlier comments in a post shared on X. Strickland insisted his opinion was not rooted in intelligence, saying he believes a woman may currently hold the highest IQ in the world. His point, he said, was that women are more inclined toward compassion in circumstances where he feels society needs tougher answers.

“I’m not saying women are stupid,” Strickland, the UFC champion, wrote. “I think the highest IQ right now is a woman. Women are far too compassionate to rule a functioning society.”

Strickland then argued that women would struggle to accept that some offenders cannot be rehabilitated. He claimed there are people who present such a danger that the only options should be execution or permanent incarceration. The fighter did not identify a specific case in the post.

“Women will never accept that there are a bunch of f*cking bad people on this planet, you cannot help them,” Strickland continued. “The only path for them is either execution or permanent incarceration. For some reason women just cannot grasp that concept.”

Sean Strickland Doubles Down on Women Voting Take

The remarks add to a long history of Strickland making headlines with opinions about women, politics and social issues. Before his June 2023 UFC main event against Abus Magomedov, Strickland told reporters that allowing women to vote was where society “f***ed up.” He also said women should leave the workforce and return to the kitchen, arguing that one man should be able to work, earn enough to support a family and allow children to be raised at home.

At the time, Strickland framed his comments around family life, wages and what he sees as a decline in American culture. He said he wanted to return to an earlier version of society, while adding comments about immigration and the U.S. border wall. His latest explanation changes the angle slightly: instead of focusing on the workforce, he is now presenting women’s supposed compassion as the reason they should be excluded from voting.

Strickland has regularly blurred the line between fight promotion, personal views and online provocation. The middleweight contender has previously drawn criticism for comments about women’s MMA as well. In 2024, women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko said Strickland had apologized after making derogatory comments about female fighters. Still, his public comments have continued, and he repeated dismissive remarks about women’s sports in 2026.

Strickland’s post does not offer evidence for the claim that women are inherently unable to make decisions involving public safety, criminal justice or government. Women vote, serve as judges, prosecutors, lawmakers, police officers, military leaders and heads of government across the world. His comments instead reflect his personal view that punishment and social order require a level of severity he does not associate with women.

MMA Fans Are Not Amused

Some UFC fans are starting to show fatigue with Strickland’s constant stream of controversial posts, arguing that the middleweight champion has leaned too hard into saying shocking things since his profile grew. One critic wrote, “I liked Sean more when he didn’t have to say stupid sh-t for attention every week. That one press conference when people started paying attention to him got him addicted.”

That frustration has surfaced around his fight promotion too. When Strickland recently resumed trading insults with Khamzat Chimaev ahead of a possible rematch, fans questioned whether the hostility was genuine after their previous feud ended with mutual respect, an embrace and Strickland acknowledging that some of the pre-fight drama was meant to sell the bout. Comments included, “We ain’t falling for that fake beef shit again big dawg,” while others said they were more interested in a different title challenger than another round of online sparring.

Strickland’s politics have become just as unpredictable as his social-media feed. Although he has described himself as “America first” and previously voted for Donald Trump, a close friend of the UFC, he has since turned sharply on the president, arguing that Trump’s decisions have hurt ordinary Americans. During an appearance on “The Shawn Ryan Show,” Strickland said attending a Trump rally made him feel he could “definitely see how Hitler happened,” claiming some MAGA supporters would follow Trump’s instructions without question.

His online role has also raised questions about whether he is driving the outrage or being used to amplify it. In May, the UFC Champ Strickland announced he had switched from Harley-Davidson to Indian Motorcycle, accusing Harley of supporting “radical ideology” involving children. The post appeared alongside similar anti-Harley messages from pro-Trump accounts that promoted Indian Motorcycle using closely matched language, including references to the company’s 125th anniversary and the approaching 250th anniversary of the United States. The episode left critics calling him a “useful idiot” or a paid shill, someone whose willingness to jump into culture-war fights can make him an effective tool for someone else’s marketing plan.

Sean Strickland (Via Sports Illustrated)