Controversial UFC star Sean Strickland caused a heated confrontation by bringing Kyle Rittenhouse to a gym frequented by UFC fighters.
Strickland, 34, invited the 23-year-old Second Amendment advocate to Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas to hang out and meet other UFC fighters. The visit was posted to YouTube by far-right activist and former MMA fighter Jake Shields on Thursday.
Rittenhouse is known for shooting three people and killing two at a Kenosha, Wisconsin, Black Lives Matter protest in 2020. His ensuing trial drew nationwide protests, but Rittenhouse was acquitted on all charges after pleading self-defense.
Since then, he has been a fierce advocate of the Second Amendment. After a social media break, he reemerged in December 2025 with a slimmer figure and a new wife, Bella Rittenhouse.
His visit to Xtreme Couture grew tense when UFC fighter Chris Curtis confronted Strickland about the meet-and-greet.
“Sean, you know how I feel about this s–t. Why would you invite this guy?” said the welterweight fighter. “F–k this guy! He’s innocent the same way Bill Cosby’s innocent!”
Strickland attempted to laugh off the confrontation, but Curtis, 38, was clearly bothered by Rittenhouse’s presence and demanded that he be removed from the gym.
“Why the f–k would you do this? This is my f–kin’ home, bro. Sean, you’re one of my best friends. Can we get him the f–k out, please? I would never disrespect you like this,” said Curtis.
The camera then cut to Strickland apologizing to Kyle and Bella, dismissing Curtis as “our local liberal.” He tried to excuse Curtis’s displeasure by saying he was “radicalized by the internet.”
Strickland, a former UFC middleweight champion, voiced similar sentiments on social media after the video was published.
“Curt is a good man,” he said in a Thursday X post. “I didnt think Curt would care but that being said I truly cant fault him for his reaction when I think about it. For the lest [sic] 12 years we’ve been hearing Trump is a nazi and his supporters are nazis, Charlie Kirk, the Trump shooter, its all a byproduct of the media’s efforts to radicalize people.”
“This is just a reminder to live life and dont let politics consume you,” he added. “It’s all one giant manipulation from the right and left… Your twitter thumbs arent going to change the world, try to be happy….”
Strickland, who once admitted to having a “Neo-Nazi, white supremacist phase,” has gotten into trouble with his social media behavior before. He has said he would blame himself for creating a “weak man” if he had a gay son, and said his true thoughts on transgender people would get him “kicked off of Instagram.”
In 2024, he unleashed a tirade at a reporter who challenged him on his past bigoted statements.
Strickland voted for Trump in 2024, but has since soured on the Trump administration. In July 2025, he voiced that he would rather vote for a Democrat over an “AIPAC Republican,” criticizing the GOP’s ties to Israel.
In August, he said he would skip the White House UFC fight planned for Trump’s 80th birthday, saying he didn’t want to “hang with the f–king Epstein list.”
Curtis publicly supported Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
Other than the Chris Curtis incident, Kyle and Bella Rittenhouse had a mostly chummy experience at Xtreme Couture. In one moment of the video, gym owner Randy Couture praised Rittenhouse for posting, “We’re gonna deport so many of them, I’ll never have to punch one for English again.”
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