Israel Adesanya emerged as the UFC middleweight champion by defeating Alex Pereira in a thrilling knockout within second 4 minutes and 21 seconds of the second round.
After defeating Pereira, Adesanya has his eyes locked onto Sean Strickland. UFC 293 will take place on September 9th and will feature Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland in the middleweight main event title fight as UFC marks it’s long awaited return in Sydney, Australia.
Adesanya targets satisfying victory over Sean Strickland at UFC 293
Adesanya plans on a smooth sailing and satisfying victory over Sean Strickland, the Nigerian is confident of his abilities to tackle Strickland’s wrestling. “I want a submission, that’s what I want. I know he’s (Strickland) going to wrestle, i mean he’d be dumb not to and I feel the submission will come in this fight.”, said Adesanya in an interview to TSN.
“Nah I don’t think it’s that difficult but again you don’t underestimate anyone nor do you overestimate anyone, I’m not going to put him on a pedestal like he’s a god or something”, added Israel when asked about difficulty of Strickland out of 10.
Adesanya said Sean’s personality reminded him of “idiots” he had to deal with growing up. “I don’t like idiots, or bullies. Like he knows I’m going to fuck him up, but he’s still just trying to pretend he’s this big dog.”, Adesanya said
“He doesn’t have to respect me, or come in and bow down, nothing like that. But some of the things he’s saying, and he’s also questioning my character, like, bitch you don’t know me.”, he added.
Has Israel Adesanya lost a fight in UFC?
Israel Adesanya currently boasts a record of 24-2-0 and it’s a little hard to believe that “The last Stylebender” has tasted defeat on two occasions.
Adesanya’s first defeat came against Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight title at UFC 259 in March 2021. Blachowicz successfully defended the 205 pounds gold by beating Adesanya unanimously for all five rounds.
Blachowicz out struck Adesanya and even out-wrestled him. It was Izzy’s toughest clash after Kelvin Gastelum. After five rounds of war, all three judges scored the contest in favor of Jan Blachowicz.
Adesanya and Pereira had faced each other 2 times in kickboxing and Poatan emerged victor in both. After winning three promotion fights Periera was given a title shot wherein he dethroned Israel Adesanya and became the UFC middleweight champion at UFC 281.
