Sean Strickland has made the claim that the potential fight between him and Israel Adesanya was botched by the UFC, and he blames them for it. At the beginning of this month, an important fight took place at the UFC 290 event between Dricus du Plessis and Robert Whittaker, who is a former UFC middleweight champion.
The fight was won by Dricus du Plessis through technical knockout in the second round against Robert Whittaker. After that, Du Plessis battled it out inside the octagon with Israel Adesanya. The general assumption was that Adesanya, the current champion of the UFC middleweight division, will defend his title against Du Plessis on September 10th, 2023 at UFC 293, which would take place at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.
Israel Adesanya, a Nigerian-New Zealander fighter, is a fan favorite Down Under and has claimed time and again that he would be thrilled to compete at the event in Australia. Adesanya currently resides in New Zealand.
On the other hand, it was recently disclosed that Du Plessis, who just finished his bout at UFC 290, won’t be able to recover, train, and make a speedy turnaround in time for UFC 293 in September. This news came as a surprise to many people. As a result, many people had the assumption that Sean Strickland may step in for him and compete for the title against Israel Adesanya at UFC 293.
Adesanya and ‘Tarzan’ have both stated that they are willing to engage in a fight with one another. Despite this, Sean Strickland has recently hinted that the fight won’t take place at UFC 293, since it’s highly improbable that it will. The American combatant gave the impression that he attempted to sell the battle to the UFC, but the promotion was not interested in scheduling it. In response to a fan who tweeted questions about the potential matchup, Strickland responded the following:
“Unfortunately, the UFC does not want it. I’m sorry man.”
Strickland, Sean
UFC don’t want it. Sorry, guy, Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) and Jan Wojnowski (@Jan_Wojnowski).
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In addition, Strickland has sent out another tweet in which he appears to criticize the UFC for not booking the much-anticipated match between himself and Adesanya. It seemed like ‘Tarzan’ was making a joke when he suggested that maybe he and ‘Izzy’ could fight in the parking lot for the benefit of the Australian fans. Strickland wrote in a tweet:
“I will say it is crazy that they are having a card like that and don’t have a headline 6 weeks out,” the commentator said. Someone at the UFC badly bungled the handling of this situation… I made the offer. Best I could do. Perhaps we could just hold an event for the Australians in a parking lot after the main event.”
Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland – What did the UFC middleweight champion say about the dream matchup?
Israel Adesanya successfully defended his UFC middleweight title by knocking out his longtime rival Alex Pereira in the second round of their most recent match, which took place in April 2023. After that, Adesanya shifted his attention to Dricus du Plessis in the days that followed, and their rivalry became more heated after Dricus du Plessis won over Robert Whittaker at UFC 290.
At this point, it is unknown whether Israel Adesanya will defend his UFC middleweight title against Sean Strickland or a different opponent. It is also unknown who Adesanya will fight next. Regardless, Adesanya leveled harsh criticism at Du Plessis a few days ago for what was supposed to be his withdrawal from UFC 293. In addition, ‘Izzy’ made the challenge for a battle to take place between himself and Sean Strickland, saying:
“Dricus Du Pussy, I don’t even know where to begin with this… You’re a piece of trash, and that’s why you won’t participate in this fight. It sounds like your foot hurts… You’re out. You have a spot, Mr. Strickland. Let’s go ahead and perform ‘The Man Dance.’ I’ll teach you the genuine steps of the dance.”
