Sean Strickland Reignites Women's Voting Rights Rant

UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland posted a new explanation on X for why he believes women should not vote, arguing that women are "far too compassionate" to run a functioning society.

Strickland's latest statement was a follow-up to backlash over earlier comments on the same topic. He was careful to separate his argument from intelligence, saying he believes a woman may currently hold the world's highest IQ, before pivoting to his real point about governance and punishment.

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

He went on to argue that some criminals are beyond rehabilitation and that society needs to be willing to choose execution or permanent incarceration for them, a stance he does not believe most women could accept. "Women will never accept that there are a bunch of f*cking bad people on this planet, you cannot help them," he wrote. "The only path for them is either execution or permanent incarceration. For some reason women just cannot grasp that concept." He did not point to any specific case to back up the claim.

Not Strickland's First Time Making This Argument

This is not new territory for the champion. Before his June 2023 main event against Abus Magomedov, Strickland told reporters that giving women the right to vote was where society went wrong, and separately argued that women should leave the workforce so a single income could support a family. His current version drops the workforce framing and leans entirely on the idea that women are too compassionate to govern, a slightly different angle on a familiar theme.

The champion has a track record of mixing fight promotion with provocation on gender and politics. Women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko said in 2024 that Strickland had apologized to her after making derogatory comments about female fighters, though he kept making similar remarks into 2026. His political identity has shifted too. He has called himself "America first" and once voted for Donald Trump, but has more recently criticized Trump's policies as harmful to ordinary Americans.

Fan Reaction Is Turning

Part of the story here is the audience, not just the statement. A growing number of UFC fans say they are tired of the routine, with one critic writing that Strickland got "addicted" to saying provocative things once people started paying attention to him after a press conference went viral. That same skepticism has bled into his fight promotion. When Strickland recently started trading barbs with Khamzat Chimaev again over a possible rematch, fans pushed back on the idea that the heat was real, since their last feud ended with a mutual embrace and Strickland admitting some of the pre-fight tension was manufactured to sell the fight. Comments like "we ain't falling for that fake beef shit again" suggest the shock-post formula is losing its grip on a chunk of his fan base, even as it keeps his name in headlines.

For a betting audience, none of this moves a line by itself, Strickland's social media habits are a promotional wildcard, not a form guide. But his willingness to manufacture heat with opponents, as he's acknowledged doing with Chimaev before, is worth remembering the next time he starts a war of words ahead of a real fight date. Treat the noise as noise until a booking is official.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Sean Strickland say about women voting?

UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland said on X that women are "far too compassionate" to govern a functioning society, arguing this is why he believes they should not vote.

Has Sean Strickland made comments like this before?

Yes, Strickland said in 2023 that giving women the right to vote was a societal mistake and argued women should leave the workforce, and he has repeated similar views in the years since.

Is Sean Strickland still feuding with Khamzat Chimaev?

Sean Strickland and Khamzat Chimaev have resumed trading insults over a possible rematch, though their previous feud ended with the two embracing and Strickland admitting some of the pre-fight hostility was used to promote the bout.