Sean Strickland has angered Australian media with a series of inflammatory comments before his middleweight title fight against champion Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312 in Sydney on Saturday.
Australian newspaper the Daily Telegraph put Strickland on their back page on Thursday, urging someone to "knock this guy out" after the American criticised Australia's government and laws.
Strickland, 33, has made a number of controversial comments in fight week, which the UFC posted on its YouTube titled 'Sean Strickland Goes Off The Rails'.
At Thursday's news conference in Sydney, after being shown the Daily Telegraph's back page Strickland was both cheered and booed by fans as he criticised the country's laws on free speech.
"I come to this country and speak about freedom of speech, guns, and taxes, and these communists in the media try to put me down," said Strickland.
"Why? Because you want to control the media and you don't like freedom of speech."
Before that, Strickland had praised Australia, saying he could see himself living there if it was not for the country's "lack of freedoms".
The back page of Australia's Daily Telegraph
His tirade shines a spotlight on free speech in the UFC once again following a range of antisemitic, homophobic and transphobic comments made by American featherweight Bryce Mitchell last week.
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