3 things we learned from Sean Strickland's Theo Von podcast appearance

UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland warned us that his Theo Von podcast appearance would be raw, and wow, he wasn't kidding. The nearly two-hour interview dropped over the holiday break and they talked about everything from penis sizes to sex workers and everything in between.

But in case you don't have two full hours to devote, we broke down three of the most important things we learned from the interview.

1. Sean Strickland had to endure a lot as a child

Strickland told his fans he broke down crying during the podcast, and now we know why. Strickland reveals several truly heartbreaking and disturbing occurances between his parents when he was a child.

Warning the descriptions may be triggering to domestic violence survivors.

“I was in probably third or fourth grade, I used to always sleep in my mom’s room because I thought my dad was going to kill my mom,” Strickland said on the podcast. “So I would sleep by the door, I’d sleep under the bed. I’d sleep by the door because I thought my dad was going to kill my mom.”

While telling the story, Strickland breaks down several times.

“One day, it was so f***** up, they just got in a bad fight, it was like third, fourth grade, my dad was like ‘f*** that, he’s not sleeping in here tonight, kick him out.’” Strickland said. “So I like army crawled under the bed and I’m sleeping under the bed. I’m like laying under the bed as they’re fighting because I think my dad was going to kill my mom."

He continued, “My dad gets on top of my mom and I remember he said ‘I’m going to f****** kill you tonight.’ Maybe it’s just rough sex, we don’t know at this moment. I’m under the bed and he starts strangling her. I get out and the only thing I can see is a guitar, I just f******* crack him in the head and call the cops. I run down the street to call the cops, he’s arrested and my dumb ass mom bails him out of jail. I would say that’s the tip of the iceberg.”

Strickland revealed graphic details about the threats his father said to his mother, all while he was listening.

“I remember I used to just sit there and hug my mom’s leg in the kitchen. We had this little nook and she would go in the nook and I would sit there and all night long, I’m by the feet of my mom and my dad [is saying] ‘I’m going to f****** kill you.’ He would talk about burning her face with acid. I’m in elementary school. He’d always tell her ‘if you cheat on me’ — and she probably was cheating on him — ‘if you cheat on me, I’m going to cut you up and put you in a bottle of acid and bury you,’" Strickland said. “Now you fast forward this, I don’t go to school. I’m up until 3 in the morning and I couldn’t stay awake in school. I stopped believing in God when I was in elementary school. I was laying in bed crying thinking about killing myself. There can’t be a f****** God here. How is there a God. Why would I be in this situation if there was a God? There ain’t no f****** god. My earliest memories. When I think back when I was a kid, I can’t recall one good memory, not one f****** good memory as a kid.”

You can listen to the full interview on Spotify, right here.

2. Sean Strickland says he bit Dricus Du Plessis during altercation

Just one day after nearly coming to blows at their first face-off, Strickland and Du Plessis were sat just two rows away from each other at the UFC 296 event. We all know by now what happened, Strickland flew from his seat to attack his future opponent.

But on the podcast Strickland revealed details we haven't heard before.

“I’m so happy they didn’t get it from a right angle, I bit him. I s*** you not. Whenever he went into me, I remember at that moment, he tackles me and right there, you see my head goes up towards him, I started thinking how can hurt this man? I’m going take a f****** chunk out of him. I’m going to bite his f****** ear off," Strickland said of the moment between he and Du Plessis.

“I remember telling myself at that moment, ‘Sean, you can’t do that, that’s something you can’t walk away from.’ If you do that, then I’m going to jail.”

Neither of the men were charged and Strickland left the arena after they were separated.

3. Sean Strickland sets his trash-talking limit

Trash talking is very common in MMA but in recent years, due to the rise of people like Conor McGregor, it's take on a life of its own. Some fighters believe there are off-limit topics when it comes to pre-fight talk.

After McGregor insulted Khabib Nurmagomedov's religion, people were calling for that topic to be off the table. Colby Covington often talks about race and politics, another controversial topic and Dricus Du Plessis mentioned Strickland's abuse in their press conference.

Strickland, the king of stepping over the line, says even he has limits.

“There’s some things that are off limits,” Strickland said. “You don’t really talk about a man’s wife, you don’t talk about a man’s kids, and you don’t about a kid being abused. These things are all off-limits. Once he crossed that … I tried to f****** ignore it. I was boiling.

He also directly addresses the comments made by Du Plessis at the UFC 297 pre-fight press conference.

“Whenever Dricus goes on there and he jokes about that s***, dude, you have no idea. I’ll f****** kill you, you have no idea. I think the issue is too, when you’re a kid and you’re made to be a victim your whole life, as an adult, you’re like never again. I’ll f****** kill you.”