Win or lose, Israel Adesanya is aware of he can do higher towards Sean Strickland.
After reclaiming the middleweight crown from Alex Pereira 5 months earlier, ‘The Final Stylebender’ aimed to defend his title towards Strickland at UFC 293 in Sydney, Australia. What went down was a shock to everybody, as Strickland delivered a lights-out efficiency, shutting down Adesanya’s offense en path to a decisive unanimous choice victory.
Adesanya has been chomping on the bit to get that one again ever since.
For the primary time in his profession, Adesanya is coming off his third-straight loss contained in the Octagon. Nonetheless, the ‘Stylebender’ believes he can flip again the clock and re-establish himself as one of many middleweight division’s prime canines. To take action, Adesanya is aiming for a rematch with Strickland in 2025.
Providing some perception into why Adesanya is so adamant on dealing with Strickland, Chael Sonnen detailed a current dialog he had with the previous two-time titleholder.
“He talks about he needs to battle Sean Strickland,” Sonnen mentioned on his YouTube channel. “And he mentioned why. He mentioned that Strickland whipped him. They fought 5 rounds. They didn’t do a battle in Izzy’s thoughts. They fought 5 instances in Izzy’s thoughts, 5 rounds. And Sean swept him, and Izzy can’t reside with it. He’s obtained to get that again.
“He simply took a variety of stress off himself. All Izzy must do is win a type of 5 rounds to have achieved a greater job. He wins two of these 5 rounds, he’s achieved a a lot better job. He wins three of these rounds, he’s achieved a terrific job. Oh, by the way in which, and he wins your complete contest. It was a really, very clever method that he worded this.”
Whereas Strickland’s efficiency towards Izzy was nothing wanting dominant, all three judges awarded Adesanya the second spherical, resulting in a trio of 49-46 scorecards in favor of ‘Tarzan.’
Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland are 1-5 of their final six fights mixed
Since beating Adesanya, Strickland has misplaced two of his final three, with each of the losses coming towards reigning middleweight king Dricus Du Plessis.
Nonetheless holding issues down because the No. 2 ranked contender at 185, Strickland has loads of choices throughout the prime 5, together with a conflict with ex-titleholder Robert Whittaker, a showdown with top-ranked contender Nassourdine Imavov, or, in fact, a rematch with Adesanya.
