UFC 293 | Pro fighters make their picks for Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland title fight
In the main event of UFC 293, the middleweight title is up for grabs as Israel Adesanya looks to defend his belt against Sean Strickland. Heading into the scrap, Adesanya is a massive -720 favorite while the American is a +450 underdog on FanDuel.
![Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland](https://staging.bjpenn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Israel-Adesanya-Sean-Strickland.jpg)
Ahead of the fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the scrap. To no surprise, the majority of the pros are picking Adesanya to defend his belt with ease, although some are rooting for Strickland to pull off the upset.
BJPENN.com Fighter Picks Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland:
Thiago Moises, UFC lightweight: Israel Adesanya by knockout. I think his striking is way too good for Sean Strickland.
Volkan Oezdemir, UFC light heavyweight: Adesanya, I think this is a total mismatch. I wanted to see Du Plessis get the title fight, but it’s good to see Adesanya be active and fighting.
Christos Giagos, UFC lightweight: Adesanya, for sure, this fight won’t be close.
Josh Fremd, UFC middleweight: I always have to go with Izzy, and I think Adesanya styles on Strickland.
Isaac Dulgarian, UFC featherweight: I got Adesanya in that one. Sean’s good man, he’s good, I love the way he is talking and is super entertaining, I just think Adesanya has way more weapons and is better everywhere.
Kyle Nelson, UFC featherweight: A lot of people will be rooting for Strickland but I just don’t see what he could do to win the fight. He’s able to outwork people and outlast them, but we saw what happened when he fought Pereira. He doesn’t have the technical kickboxing to stay in the fight with Adesanya. I think Adesanya TKO’s him in the third round.
Jasmine Jasudavicius, UFC flyweight: I’m actually going with Sean Strickland. I think this could be one of the fights that Adesanya just completely overlooks him and Strickland gets the win.
Kurt Holobaugh, UFC lightweight: I do think Strickland has a path to victory by just outvoluming Adesanya. I do think Adesanya will win, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Sean did it.
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Fighters picking Israel Adesanya: Thiago Moises, Volkan Oezdemir, Christos Giagos, Josh Fremd, Isaac Dulgarian, Kyle Nelson, Kurt Holobaugh
Fighters picking Sean Strickland: Jasmine Jasudavicius
Topics:
Exclusive MMA Interviews Israel Adesanya Sean Strickland UFC