Sean
Strickland believes Bud Light mishandled the aftermath of
Dustin
Poirier's arrest.

Poirier was arrested at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International
Airport on a charge of public drunkenness after he threatened to
fight a police officer while intoxicated and even used a racial
slur. He has since owned up to his mistake while accepting his
issues with alcoholism since his retirement, vowing to stay sober
going forward.

However, Poirier (30-10) recently revealed that Bud Light canceled
his sponsorship due to the incident and
Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight king Strickland
isn't on board with the decision.

Sean Strickland criticizes Bud Light decision after Dustin
Poirier arrest

While Strickland had initially mocked Poirier for blaming his
depression, he has since expressed his heartfelt support for “The
Diamond.†Strickland had even warned Bud Light against canceling
Poirier's sponsorship. The two-time champion recently lashed out at
the beverage company for the same.

Strickland (31-7) says Bud Light already betrayed America by
printing transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney's photo on their
cans in 2023. He believes Poirier didn't deserve to lose his
sponsorship for nothing more than an embarrassing drunk incident.
Strickland says Bud Light should have instead extended their help
to Poirier to deal with his alcoholism.

“It made me so f*cking mad. Bud Light already f*cking betrayed
America with their f*cking tr–ny on a beer can,†Strickland said
on the “Shawn Ryan Show.†“How much of a piece of sh*t are you, Bud
Light? The moment something bad happens where you get a little
shame ‘cause you got drunk on a plane and tried to fight a black
cop. Which is funny; it's not racist. You want to terminate his
contract? They should have reached out to Dustin and said, ‘Hey
Dustin man, you might have a problem with drinking. We're a beer
company, we sponsor you, can we help you?' That's not what they
did. They're gonna say, ‘You used our product and you f*cked up.
Get the f*ck lost, we don't want that bad image.'â€

Bud Light Turned On Dustin
Poirier?! 😳

Continue watching the FULL episode at 12:30 PM CST. @SStricklandMMA
pic.twitter.com/1oU6a9Tmjy

— Shawn Ryan Show (@ShawnRyanShow)
July 27, 2026

Navajo
Stirling saw a fighter in shambles right before his
Dana White's Contender Series bout.

Stirling earned his
Ultimate Fighting Championship contract with a knockout win on
Contender Series in 2024. He was sharing the locker room with
Quemuel
Ottoni, who was set to face Kody
Steele. Ottoni eventually didn't make the walk to the Octagon
and Stirling has now detailed what happened behind the scenes.

Navajo Stirling recalls Quemuel Ottoni's dramatic Dana White's
Contender Series fight-week incident

Stirling (10-0) recently revealed that Ottoni (12-4) was aggressive
towards Steele, and even other fighters, throughout fight week
until the weigh-ins. However, the Brazilian's nerves got the better
of him right before stepping out for his bout and he allegedly
started crying backstage, even ripping off his hand wraps multiple
times.

Cutman Brad Tate, who was in charge of wrapping Ottoni, refused to
repeat it after a point. The bout was eventually called off and
Steele won his contract in a later Contender Series outing.

“The guy that was on Contenders [Series] was probably the worst
one,†Stirling told Full Send MMA. “He was fighting Kody Steele. He
choked out Alex
Pereira back in the day. I was in the locker room with him… At
the weigh-ins, he is puffing his chest, he is even looking at me,
like, ‘You wanna go?' I'm like, ‘Bro, save it for tomorrow.' He's
staunching Kody Steele out at the weigh-ins. And I was thinking,
‘This is going to be a banger.' We get to the fight night and he
just started crying. He took his gloves off three or four times.
They had to re-wrap his hands. I think he had cutman Tate. The
cutman said, ‘F*ck this guy, I'm not wrapping his hands
anymore.'â€

Both Tate and Steele have confirmed Stirling's story about Ottoni,
who had choked out UFC superstar Pereira in the latter's
professional MMA debut in 2015. Ottoni and Pereira's careers have
taken contrasting trajectories since. While Pereira went on to
become a two-division champion, Ottoni is yet to make it out of the
regional scene. He has fought only once since the Contender Series
fiasco, suffering a first-round technical knockout loss.

Meanwhile, the undefeated Stirling already has five UFC wins to his
name. The Kiwi is now scheduled to face Jan
Blachowicz (29-11) on less than three weeks' notice at
UFC Belgrade in Serbia on Aug. 1.