Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya has explained why he is eager to have a rematch with Sean Strickland, the first man to defeat him in The Octagon.
Sports247 recalls that ‘The Last Style Bender’ lost his belt to Strickland with a mammoth 5-0 margin during UFC 293 on September 10, 2023 and, though he has since lost three more fights in a row, Adesanya declared that he is eager to face his conqueror once again.
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Dramatically, Strickland has also since lost the belt, as he fell under controversial circumstances to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312 on Februaty 9th this year, but Adesanya believes he still has unfinished business with the man who floored him with an upset result in Sydney, Australia during the main event of UFC 293.
Adesanya, who also lost on February 1st this year to fast-rising Nassourdine Imavov in Riyard, Saudi Arabia, recalled the pain of his first defeat and reasoned that, though it was a clean victory for Strickland, some loose points about it still have to be fixed.
He said ruefully:
“He beat me fair and square, 5-0 in Sydney. At that point, I realised that I had to like slow down in my activities. I used to fight like three, four times in a year as a champion, and I want to go back to it now.”
Although Adesanya’s long time coach, Eugene Bareman apparently has a different view about the Nigerian-born New Zealand citizen continuing to fight in the UFC, as he believes they have already been blessed, his protégé, who will clock 36 on July 22, is not thinking of retiring just yet, as the former champ insists he has what it takes to carry on.
Adesanya added, “I’m already doing a different approach in my preparations. I’m now older and doing things differently. I don’t want to make excuses, ‘cos he beat me, but I just want to make sure if he could beat me at my best. So, this time, I’m going to come at him with my body on the ground, in a sense.”
Adesanya, whose record is now 24 wins and five defeats, concluded with an inference that he was inexperienced when he lost to Strickland, who has 29 wins and seven defeats, thereby concreting his self-belief that he will get a better result now that he is much mature.
“He attacked the young me. So, I want to attack him back and ensure I get my point,” submitted the fighter, whose full name is Israel Mobolaji Temitayo Odunayo Oluwafemi Owolabi Adesanya and was born in Lagos but moved to New Zealand with his parents at an early age.
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