Sadibou Sy has credited hard sparring sessions with Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland for the success he's achieved in PFL this year.
Sy, 35, has the chance to win $1million on November 25 when he faces Dilano Taylor in New York at the welterweight PFL finals. 'The Swedish Denzel Washington' is unbeaten in this year's campaign with his most impressive win coming against former UFC title challenger Rory MacDonald, who retired after being beaten by Sy.
The Swede trains out of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, which is home to Strickland and a number of other top UFC contenders. Sy started training with Chimaev at Allstars Training Center in Stockholm before his cancelled fight against Leon Edwards two years ago and the PFL star has credited both of the fighters for improving his skills.
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“The funny thing with Sean Strickland is since fighting [Nikolay] Aleksakhin, Carlos Leal and MacDonald I always make sure I get rounds with Sean because he’s a maniac," Sy said. "Even though he’s stylistically nothing like the guys I’m facing, he takes it deep waters and helps you prepares for that. We have wars like every week and it’s fun we look at each other like ‘f***, I don’t want to do this but let’s go.'"
“Me and Khamzat started training together before he was supposed to fight Leon Edwards. We’ve helped each other out and have trained together a lot. A little bit like with Sean Strickland, that guy is so good and he makes you better. Even though I’m not fighting a guy like him stylistically, I still want rounds with him."
Sy crashed out of last year's PFL competition when he was defeated by Magomed Magomedkerimov, but the 35-year-old has gone unbeaten since the loss. Sy thinks the hard work he puts in against fighters like Strickland and Chimaev in training is starting to show in his performances, as he added: “It goes back to my improvement, my wrestling and my grappling.
"In the gym I started working on that years ago but it’s only starting to show now. Making the move from Sweden [to Vegas] was good for me, not having anything other than training to think about. I’m always happy to train with high-level guys, people that I can learn from. If they have something to learn from me I’m always open for that as well."
