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#UFC 293: Sean Strickland upsets Israel Adesanya | Dana White calls for a rematch in the future

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Sydney, Australia – UFC fans watching live inside the Qudos Bank Arena or streaming online were shocked after a huge upset in UFC 293’s main event. The challenger, Sean Strickland, took the Middleweight title from Israel Adesanya via unanimous decision. Strickland dominated Adesanya through five rounds resulting in a landslide victory over the former champion. Despite the disappointing loss, Dana White and Adesanya already started to think of ways for a possible rematch.

Adesanya lost his second title fight in just three years. In UFC 281, the New Zealand icon lost to the Brazilian star, Alex Pereira, but regained his title during their rematch in UFC 287. Now, Izzy gets stripped of his belt again after he bows down to Strickland in UFC 293. Right now, Adesanya holds a record of 24-3-0 while Strickland is now ranked higher than him, with 28-5-0.

STRICKLAND WAS TAUNTING ADESANYA AT THE END #UFC293 pic.twitter.com/dhwO1z9ziH

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 10, 2023

Adesanya’s lackluster performance resulted in his shocking loss

The match’s stat sheet proved how Strickland outperformed Adesanya during their battle. The American mixed martial artist landed more strikes than the Nigerian superstar (137 compared to Izzy’s 94). Moreover, Strickland forced Adesanya with an early knockdown, giving him more points.

It was also obvious that Israel Adesanya wasn’t his usual self. He seems like he couldn’t get his rhythm and never recovered after being taken down by Strickland. Moreover, he couldn’t establish his attacks and could not even defend Strickland’s blows.

UFC President Dana White wants an Adesanya and Strickland rematch soon, so does Israel Adesanya

After what seemed like a lackluster fight with an unexpected ending, Dana White believes a rematch should be done. During the post-fight press conference, White said interesting things about the matchup and what he thought was the reason why Adesanya lost. But, what really caught everyone’s attention was Dana giving the green light for an Adesanya vs. Strickland rematch.

“I think you do the rematch,” White said. “Absolutely. The rematch is interesting.”

On the other hand, in the same press conference, Izzy made a short appearance for the reporters. He said he wants to be with his family and friends and will allow his coach, Eugene Bareman, to answer any questions pertaining to the recent match. Bareman, who has been with the Last Stylebender since 2010, also explained why Adesanya failed to defend his title.

“There was an alternate kind of universe where Israel performs his poorest or poorly where Sean could win, and I’m sitting in that universe right now. Training camp was great. I’m not going to make any excuses in regard to that. Leading up to the fight was great, sparring partners, everything. All the technical things that have to do with the camp were perfect. No excuses there.”, Bareman said.

Both Bareman and Adesanya want a rematch as they are confident they can take the Middleweight Championship belt again. If Adesanya brings out his full power, it would be very interesting to see Strickland go head-to-head against the New Zealander once again.

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