Maxx Crosby reveals he sparred with 'maniac' Sean Strickland (Video)

This is a duo we never knew we needed.

Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby revealed that he's sparred with UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland.

“Every year I try and find new things in the offseason to get better at,” Crosby said Tuesday on The Pat McAfee Show. “Sean Strickland, he’s the [UFC] middleweight champ now, we did three rounds of sparring and we beat the s*** out of each other, just testing myself in different ways. [I’m] not questioning, ‘Oh, am I going to be OK surviving situations?’ No, I’m going to go in 10 toes and see how it goes."

Maxx Crosby says he trained with Sean Strickland: 'He goes in there and actually tries to knock people out'

Crosby detailed how he the sparring session came about.

“Me and Strickland have been boys for a long time,” Crosby said. “When he first got into the UFC, I was a fan. I’d seen him fight a few times, he’s in the octagon talking s*** while he’s fighting and I’m like, ‘Who is this dude?’ We had a relationship for years, and all of a sudden, he keeps winning, winning, winning, and then now he’s fighting Izzy for the title."

He continued, “NFL Films calls and they say, ‘Hey, we want to get a behind-the-scenes of how you train, do you have anyone you can spar with?’ I’m like, ‘Well, I know Sean Strickland and he’s my buddy, but he’s like notorious for being a horrible sparring partner because he goes in there and actually tries to knock people out.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, bet, I’ll show up.’"

Crosby, who attends UFC events often detailed how hard they went in the gym saying, “We do this whole thing, have a whole camera crew in there, no mouthpiece, no head guard, nothing. We did three three-minute rounds and we were banging. My nose was messed up for two weeks straight, but we were cracking. I have all the footage and everything. It was a real fight, we were out there swinging.”

Crosby's overall thoughts on Strickland?

“That guy is a maniac.”

Yep, he sure is.