UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland says he is “OK” but “an idiot” after surviving a crash in an off-road vehicle while not wearing a helmet.
In a series of posts on Instagram, Strickland describes the crash as happening at 60mph with the vehicle rolling “around six times”.
The 35-year-old American says he was a passenger in the vehicle alongside his friend Chris Cornell, who was driving.
Strickland says Cornell was taken to hospital after falling unconscious, before later posting a picture of him with his thumbs up in a hospital bed alongside an X-ray of a broken bone.
Strickland did not confirm if he went to hospital.
In footage posted after the crash, Strickland shows grazes on his head and back, before describing himself as an “idiot” for not wearing a helmet.
“Guys I’m in a real bad place. I let my buddy drive, he rolled us going like 60 (mph), we rolled like six times,” said Strickland.
“That’s from my head smacking the ground going 60. I didn’t have a helmet on, I’m an idiot.”
Strickland, who lives in Las Vegas, did not say where the crash took place, but a video posted shortly before the accident shows the UFC fighter in the desert before he went riding.
Strickland later posted an update, saying he is “a little concussed but good and wants to spar tomorrow”.
“Think I’m OK, Chris is in the hospital but I think he’s going to be alright,” he added.
“It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. My shoulder’s a little sore.”
Strickland is a polarising figure in MMA and has made homophobic and racist remarks as well as derogatory comments about women.
He became a two-time UFC middleweight champion by beating Khamzat Chimaev in May.
