Israel Adesanya reacts following title loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293

Israel Adesanya has reacted following his shocking title loss to Sean Strickland at tonight’s UFC 293 event in Sydney.

Adesanya (24-3 MMA) was returning to the Octagon this evening for the first time since reclaiming the UFC middleweight championship with a second-round knockout victory over longtime rival Alex Pereira this past April. ‘Stylebender’ had gone 4-2 over his previous six Octagon appearances, suffering losses to ‘Poatan‘ and Jan Blachowicz, while earning decision wins over Marvin Vettori, Robert Whittaker and Jared Cannonier during that stretch.

Meanwhile, Sean Strickland (28-5 MMA) entered his first career UFC title bout sporting a two-fight winning streak, his most recent being a TKO victory over Abusupiyan Magomedov two months ago. Prior to that, the brash American had earned a unanimous decision victory over Nassourdine Imavov in January of this year.

To the surprise of many, including UFC President Dana White, tonight’s main event proved to be one-way traffic for Sean Strickland. The American was able to get the better of Israel Adesanya in four rounds of their five-round affair, even dropping ‘Stylebender’ in the late stages of the opening frame (see that here). It was a tremendous performance from Strickland, one which drew the admiration of most of his peers.

Official UFC 293 Result: Sean Strickland def. Israel Adesanya by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)

Following the conclusion of tonight’s event headliner, Izzy briefly spoke with reporters at the post-fight press conference and shared the following statement (via TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter):

Adesanya says:

"I had a different plan for this, but life throws curveballs at you. Win or lose, I wasn't going to say much anyway, but right now, I lost tonight to the better man on the night and I just want to be with people who care about me, my team, so I'm going to go do…

— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) September 10, 2023

“I had a different plan for this, but life throws curveballs at you. Win or lose, I wasn’t going to say much anyway, but right now, I lost tonight to the better man on the night, and I just want to be with people who care about me, my team, so I’m going to go do that, but I’ll leave you in the capable hands of a man who is much smarter than me… I’ll leave it with Eugene Bareman (trainer), who will handle this for the first time.”

Adesanya later shared the following video on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/stylebender/status/1700744927519621217

Do you think Israel Adesanya should receive an immediate rematch with Sean Strickland following tonight’s loss in Sydney?