Sean Strickland embroiled in new controversy over depression in the US and provokes: 'Easy solution'

Sean Strickland at the entrance to the UFC event. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram/UFC India

In the octagon, Sean Strickland throws punches. Outside of it, he targets what he calls the "invisible enemies" of American society: a generation lost between antidepressants, bright screens and fast-delivery packages. The former UFC middleweight champion (up to 83,9 kg) fired off scathing criticisms of what he defines as a "spiritual void" in the United States, attributing part of the increase in cases of depression to rampant consumerism.

“America is the greatest country in the world. But there is a level of depression and spiritual emptiness being filled with consumerism. You see it most when you leave and come back. The solution is easy. Adults just need to stop worshipping the Chinese goddess Amazon,” Strickland said in a social media post.

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Raised in California amid poverty and parental abuse, Strickland found in martial arts an antidote to the anger he inherited from a supremacist grandfather — a phase he himself describes as “shameful.” Today, the same man who defends gun ownership and criticizes “political correctness” cries when remembering his abused mother and admits that he is a danger to people when memories of the past come back.

The stance, however, clashes with data: the US records 21 million adults with major depression, according to the NIH (National Institutes of Health), and Strickland himself admitted in March 2024 to monthly anxiety attacks even after achieving fame and fortune.