Sean Strickland promised a war, and that he was ready to fight to the death to beat Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312, but neither of those things happened.
Now it's easy to chalk that up to pre-fight bluster as a way to hype up the rematch, but Strickland often talks himself up as the kind of fighter ready to leave it all in the cage. He's been far more likely to produce decisions than finishes throughout his UFC career. That's why veteran analyst and longtime coach Din Thomas is sick and tired of listening to Strickland's promises only to be let down again and again, which is exactly what happened on Saturday night.
"We just have to admit it now. We have to admit it: Sean Strickland is not who he says he is," Thomas said on the UFC 312 post-fight show. "He's not who he says he is. We want him to be something. He wants to be something, but he's not that guy.
"He's not the guy who's going to go to the death! To the death! He didn't go to the death. He didn't even go deep. I'm not saying he's not a great fighter. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve to be where he's at. But he's not who he says he is. We've got to admit that."
After losing a close decision in their first encounter, Strickland vowed that the rematch would go much differently but ultimately the result was still the same.
In fact, Strickland's output was actually far less aggressive in his second fight against du Plessis when compared to the first but he really didn't do anything that out of character from his typical game plan.
For the majority of the 25-minute fight, Strickland stuck behind his jab and tried to outwork du Plessis on feet but never took any real risks or chances that could have potentially turned the tables after he was clearly down on the scorecards.
Time and again between rounds, Strickland's head coach Eric Nicksick begged him for more activity and even hammered home that he needed a finish going into the final five-minute session but nothing really seemed to change.
"That is my point," Thomas proclaimed. "As a coach, I feel for Eric Nicksick because I know what it's like and I don't even want to go and be in that situation again. I know I'm hard on Sean Strickland. I know it but it's because I'm cheated. I feel cheated by you.
"I hear about these gym stories, these wars that you get into, I hear about how great you are and then you go in these fights, these high level fights and you give us that. You cheat us."
As much as he criticized Strickland for failing to show up on Saturday, Thomas did give credit to du Plessis for trying his best to make the rematch an exciting affair for the fans.
While he was definitely ahead on the scorecards, du Plessis was still pushing the pace and he threw spinning back kicks, spinning back fists and elbows just trying to catch Strickland off guard.
Even after shattering Strickland's nose in the fourth round, which all but sealed the victory for him, du Plessis still came out trying to end the fight before the final horn.
Unfortunately, Thomas says du Plessis could only do so much when he had somebody like Strickland standing across the cage from him.
"He didn't back off," Thomas said about du Plessis. "He really tried to knock Sean out, even in the fifth round. He did everything he could to make that fight exciting. He didn't have a willing dance partner."
It's difficult to say where Strickland goes from here, but it's highly unlikely he'll earn a third opportunity at du Plessis so long as he's champion.
Call it tough love but Thomas hopes that Strickland can figure out a way to fix his style moving forward because otherwise he's going to be the wrong end of a lot of lackluster fights just like the one he had at UFC 312.
"You jab and you kick and I know you're capable of much more," Thomas said. "We want to see that. That's what I want to see from Sean Strickland.
"I don't want to see him jab his way to losses. I want to see him give me what he's capable of. I want to see the full potential of Sean Strickland."