LOOK: Sean Strickland looking shredded is our Christmas miracle (PHOTO)

Before you all freak out, we don't think Sean Strickland looking shredded is a miracle. It's more about the timing of the development that has us so hyped.

Now that it's out of the way, let's take a gander at the totally ripped UFC middleweight champion. Just look at those abs.

Stickland has always been fit, but this photo shows him at a whole new level. Perhaps he's hoping to not look ridiculous next to Dricus Du Plessis who is always shredded, or perhaps he's just taking his first title defense incredibly seriously.

Either way, fans are loving it.

"dricus is well known for having a good physique. Sean Strickland in good shape is rare," someone tweeted.

"Ever since he won the belt he looks great, something about him ever since grew into himself, plus putting in the work," another fan tweeted.

"Damn bro he looks super jacked," someone else said.

Of course, some haters either joked it was fake or assumed it really was.

"There’s no way that’s actually real," someone tweeted. Someone else joked that "Haters will say it’s photoshopped."

This new physique comes after the two future opponents got into a cage side brawl at UFC 296. The fight stemmed from remarks that Du Plessis made about Strickland being abused by his father as a child. The tension spilled over the next day at the fights where they were sat near each other.

Strickland and Du Plessis will fight on Jan. 20 in Toronto in the main event at UFC 297.