Sean Strickland has been hit with a six month suspension from the sport after storming into the cage at Tuff-N-Uff 145 and punching Luis Hernandez, who had been taunting him after tapping out a team-mate he was cornering, Miles Hunslinger.

Strickland’s six-month suspension dates back to the night of the event, June 29th, and he has also been fined $5,000, plus additional fees for his part in the altercation, while his friend and fellow UFC fighter Chris Curtis who also went into the cage, but didn’t throw any punches avoided a suspension, but was fined $2,500.

Strickland won’t be able to return to action until December 29th as things stand, but if he agrees to take anger management classes then his suspension would be cut to 4-and-a-half months, meaning he’d be available again by November 14th and so could still fight before the end of the year, and it seems he’s opted to take that option.

“The plan is to work with the commission to identify an acceptable program and to complete the course,” Strickland’s manager Launce Spaude told MMAJunkie.

The 34-year-old Strickland’s last fight was for the middleweight title back in February, suffering a unanimous decision defeat to Dricus du Plessis.

That was Strickland’s second loss to DDP in a little over a year, which had seemed to rule him out of title contention for the time being, but with Khamzat Chimaev now having seized the belt there’s now every reason for the No.3 ranked Strickland to get back into the Octagon sooner rather than later and try to force himself back into the UFC’s title plans at 185lbs.