Sean O’Malley weighs in on Sean Strickland’s title win over Israel Adesanya at UFC 293: “It didn’t look like the Izzy that fought Alex Pereira”

By Harry Kettle - September 13, 2023

UFC star Sean O’Malley has given his thoughts on Israel Adesanya’s loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293.

Sean-Strickland-Israel-Adesanya

Last weekend, Sean Strickland shocked the world. He did so by defeating Israel Adesanya via unanimous decision to capture the UFC middleweight championship. While Strickland’s performance was incredible, it’s also worth noting that ‘Stylebender’ looked particularly poor on the night. In the eyes of many pundits, of course, this was due to the great work done by Strickland, but Adesanya’s shortcomings also need to be acknowledged.

RELATED: SEAN STRICKLAND WEIGHS IN ON ISRAEL ADESANYA’S PERFORMANCE AT UFC 293: “AM I FIGHTING AN AMATEUR RIGHT NOW?”

Someone who was watching the bout closely was none other than Sean O’Malley. In addition to his live reaction video, ‘Suga’ also gave his thoughts on how the contest went down in another clip.

O’Malley questions Adesanya

“It didn’t look like the Izzy that fought Alex Pereira the fight before,” O’Malley said. “It didn’t look like that Izzy, but that could literally just be ‘cause that’s just Sean Strickland. Styles make matchups dude, and that was a f***ing very interesting fight.”

Quotes via MMA News

The fact that both Sean O’Malley and Sean Strickland were able to win the title is incredible, according to many. They were considered to be massive underdogs and yet despite that, they persevered and overcame adversity in the best way imaginable.

For Israel Adesanya, this serves as the third time that he’s been beaten in mixed martial arts. The big question that many have is regarding what he can do to bounce back, and whether or not he still has the drive to do so.

What do you expect to happen in Israel Adesanya’s immediate future? If he has the rematch against Sean Strickland, do you believe he will win? Let us know your thoughts, BJPENN Nation!


Topics:

Israel Adesanya Sean O'Malley Sean Strickland UFC