Israel Adesanya breaks silence after UFC 293 loss to Sean Strickland: “Felt like a bad dream”
Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has opened up on his loss to Sean Strickland.
‘The Last Stylebender’ returned to the cage in the main event of UFC 293 earlier this month. There, he faced Sean Strickland, who entered the fight riding a two-fight winning streak. Meanwhile, Israel Adesanya entered the bout a massive favorite, fresh off his win over Alex Pereira in April.
However, Sean Strickland never cared for the betting odds and pulled off one of the biggest upsets in MMA history in Australia. Knocking down Israel Adesanya in the first round, ‘Tarzan’ later won by a lopsided unanimous decision. Following the defeat, the former champion declined to speak for long at the UFC 293 press conference.
However, Israel Adesanya has now opened up on his loss to Sean Strickland. Speaking on his YouTube channel, the former champion gave plenty of respect to the new titleholder. Furthermore, he likened his UFC 293 defeat to a bad dream.
(via Zuffa LLC)
“That just felt like a bad dream,” Israel Adesanya stated on his YouTube channel recapping his UFC 293 loss to Sean Strickland. “Feeling it, and seeing it are completely different. I called Eugene [Bareman] right afterwards and we talked, same thing, we’re quietly confident. [The fight was] surprisingly fast. I didn’t even know it was the last round, I was like ‘This is the last round? F*ck’. I was like okay, vamanos, I needed to do something.”
He continued, “It was just the way I felt in the fight, it wasn’t, eh. It was eh. It was also the way he worked. He never let me get into my rhythm at all… Just wasn’t able to get my rhythm because of his pressure, he was right there constantly. Whenever I was setting him up, because he’s right there, his coach would help him and I’d just be like ‘F*ck’.”
“It was just a good gameplan from their end. For me, I wasn’t able to adjust on the fly.”
What do you make of these comments from Israel Adesanya? Do you want to see him fight Sean Strickland again?
Topics:
Israel Adesanya Sean Strickland UFC
