UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has reignited a backlash by sharing an AI-generated video showing him knocking out a person with Dylan Mulvaney’s likeness, tying it to Mulvaney’s 2023 Bud Light promotion as Pride Month begins. The post drew more than
For the second day of June, Sean Strickland didn’t just post online. He aimed at an old target — and did it with an AI clip that made the timing impossible to ignore.
The UFC middleweight champion shared a violent, AI-generated video depicting himself pummeling someone with Dylan Mulvaney’s likeness. The post referenced Mulvaney’s 2023 Bud Light campaign, and it was uploaded as Pride Month got underway. On Instagram. the fake footage received more than 80. 000 likes. while Strickland directed his message at Bud Light. including Bud Light’s handle in the caption.
“Ive yet to see one rainbow flag,” Strickland wrote, adding “We’re back!!!” in the same post.
Strickland’s choice of reference is loaded. Mulvaney promoted Bud Light in 2023, a move that sparked widespread boycotts among conservative Americans. In the months that followed. some of Strickland’s calls to boycott Budweiser and Bud Light were answered in a way that didn’t sit comfortably with his critics: Kid Rock was later spotted drinking Bud Light at a Nashville concert hall. Strickland, for his part, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in December of 2023 that he was done with the boycott.
The new AI video suggests the feud never really ended — it just changed form.
Mulvaney, meanwhile, has remained a central point in Strickland’s attention. The AI post arrives alongside his ongoing criticism of the brewer even as UFC’s partnership with Bud Light continues.
Before UFC 297 in Toronto, Strickland laid out his argument in blunt terms. “Here’s the thing about Bud Light: Ten years ago. to be trans was a mental f**king illness and now. all of a sudden. people like you have f**king weaseled your way in the world. ” he said. He then escalated his remarks about trans people: “You are an infection,” and “You are the definition of weakness. Everything that is wrong with the world is because of f**king you.”.
This time, the reaction wasn’t confined to Instagram. On X, Strickland wrote: “Say what you want about Trump but June has got far less gay.” The post also prompted pushback from influencer Morgan Moore, who asked why Strickland is “so obsessed with anything gay.”
Strickland responded by calling homosexuality “anti American,” and the replies kept coming — more questions about what drives his fixation than any clear resolution.
There was another layer of hostility in the Instagram engagement. Some of Strickland’s followers added antisemitic comments alongside their support, according to the reaction logged from the post.
The UFC world is not insulated from any of this. Dana White has criticized Strickland as a “nightmare” to work with, yet he has continued to book the veteran fighter, who remains one of the more visible talents in the sport.
What’s striking is how a figure who can headline events and sell a narrative in the cage has turned that same platform outward — onto an AI-generated image with Mulvaney’s likeness. dropped at the start of Pride Month. and tied directly back to a Bud Light moment that already triggered a cultural firestorm in 2023. Strickland’s caption and the sheer volume of likes on Instagram made the message unmistakable; the backlash on X and the comments from his followers only widened the divide.
Sean Strickland UFC Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light Pride Month AI video Instagram Dana White Dylan Mulvaney boycott Sean Hannity