The UFC is rolling into Houston with its first stacked Fight Night live event on February 21 since UFC 271 in 2022. Headlining the card, Sean Strickland is set to collide with Anthony Hernandez in a middleweight showdown that could carry serious title implications. However, as ‘Tarzan’ prepares for the most important clash of his life, his chances of winning might suffer because of a nagging shoulder injury.

According to the former champ, he injured his shoulder while in a training session with fellow middleweight fighter and teammate Rienier de Ridder at Xtreme Couture ahead of the big event.

Sean Strickland details shoulder injury ahead of UFC Houston

“So, I got the call,” Strickland told ESPN MMA in a recent interview. “I was actually training with de Ridder, and he hit me with like a whizzer, and I was like, ‘Dude.. I can’t.’ I couldn’t move my arm. I went to the PI, and I was feeling like the UFC’s gonna call me to fight soon. So, I gotta get out of here, and then I go to Columbia like nine weeks out, ten weeks out, to get stemcells on my shoulder. I said it’s for my knee because I know everybody knows my shoulder.”

When it comes to gruesome injuries, Sean Strickland is definitely no stranger to them. A few years ago, the former middleweight champion suffered a life-threatening scare when a motorcycle accident tore his kneecap. That was a terrifying time for ‘Tarzan’ as his career hung in the balance. But guess what? He injured his shoulder again during another bike ride with Motocross athlete Axell Hodges before fighting Dricus du Plessis in a rematch at UFC 319.

Since then, Strickland has been seeking therapy in Colombia, where doctors have been treating him using stem cells. Shedding more light on the situation, the California native revealed that the UFC’s top brass, Hunter Campbell, called him during a therapy session in Colombia, breaking the news about the fight with Anthony Hernandez, an opportunity he simply couldn’t refuse.

“And the moment I get back, or I’m actually in getting stem cells in the clinic, and then Hunter calls me, and he was like, ‘Hey, we have a fight.’ And I was like, ‘Again!’ It is what it is dude,” he stated.

Now, even though Sean Strickland is dealing with a shoulder injury, he’s definitely not holding himself back.

‘Tarzan’ is preparing for ‘Fluffy’s unorthodox style 

In the middleweight division, Anthony Hernandez has been a phenom. With his slick grappling, ‘Fluffy’ has mauled most of his opponents, the latest being Sean Strickland’s Xtreme Couture gym mate Roman Dolidze at the Apex last year, with a highlight reel submission. So, to prepare for such an unorthodox style, ‘Tarzan’ has been spending a lot of time sharpening his grappling with many teammates.

“Fluffy is a hard guy to train for because there’s nobody that really fights like him, that like has that pace,” Strickland admitted in the same interview. “So my training rounds are outside of sparring. I’ll have go and get guys. You’ve seen me sparring today. You just go with a guy until he becomes dead body, then I get another guy.”

Well, it’s definitely true. Anthony Hernandez is one of the hardest fighters to prepare for outside of someone like Dricus du Plessis. The Mexican uses unique submission setups, finding openings from mount to lock in rear naked chokes or seamlessly transitioning to armbars. How do you even plan for that? But even though Strickland is spending time improving his wrestling, rolling around with ‘Fluffy’ on the mat could be seriously dangerous.

So, it would be wise for the former champ to lean into his strengths and keep the fight on their feet. That said, with the shoulder injury still persisting, do you think Sean Strickland can actually defeat his opponent at UFC Houston?