In a stunning turn of events, Sean Strickland achieved a significant upset in Australia by securing a unanimous decision victory over Israel Adesanya, thus claiming the UFC middleweight championship. Entering the UFC 293 bout as a considerable underdog against Adesanya, the top contender, Strickland exceeded expectations by decisively winning the fight, marking his first title win.
Initially approaching the fight with caution, Strickland soon discovered his rhythm, delivering a precision-placed right hand that dropped Adesanya just as the bell rang, narrowly saving ‘The Stylebender.’ The second round, however, arguably went in favor of the Kiwi fighter, as he managed some good strikes that connected well, and Strickland himself was just focusing on the defense.
Adesanya did not really show any urgency in the next couple of rounds as well, while ‘Tarzan’ was able to connect fine combinations at regular intervals. In the ultimate round of the bout, Adesanya needed a knockout to save his middleweight belt, but Sean’s defense was on point, and he managed to win a fight that no one expected him to.
However, in an interview after the fight with Megan Olivi, Sean Strickland expressed that the championship belt meant nothing to him. “This sport is what I love; this belt means nothing”, said Sean Strickland. He then also put the belt on the floor, which shocked the interviewer, who expressed that Strickland might be the only champion to drop his belt.
The UFC boss, Dana White, might not be very happy with these actions of Strickland disrespecting the belt, but these were just raw emotions of the fighter just after the greatest fight of his career.
Sean Strickland wants Israel Adesanya to ‘man up’
After the fight, Israel Adesanya took an unexpected stance by choosing not to respond to inquiries from the media during the post-fight press conference. ‘The Last Stylebender‘ left the assembled journalists with a concise message. “Win or lose, I wasn’t going to say much anyways, but right now, I lost tonight to the better man on the night, and I just want to go be with people who care about me and my team. So I’m going to do that,” expressed Israel Adesanya.
Reacting to this, the new middleweight champion advised Adesanya to ‘man up’, as he said, “I don’t fu*king know. You win some, you lose some. Just man the fu*k up, you know? You win some, you lose some; just man the fu*k up.”
To think about the fact that Strickland was not even initially supposed to fight Adesanya is just fascinating. He was roped in on short notice after Dricus du Plessis was not deemed fit and a just about a month later, we have a new champion in the house!