Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is looking for his next opponent, and he has his sights set on Sean Strickland. After taking some time off following his recent loss to Nassourdine Imavov earlier this year, Adesanya says he is ready to return to the octagon.
Adesanya revealed on his YouTube channel that he had not sparred since his last fight until recently. Watching his teammate Alexander Volkanovski compete motivated him, and sparring with Kamaru Usman confirmed he was ready to fight again. “So for me now, I told my coach already, it`s time. I just knew,” Adesanya stated. He then identified his desired opponent: “You`ll like this one: I’ve gotta get some get back. Strickland. I’m going to get it back.”
Adesanya had reclaimed the middleweight title by knocking out Alex Pereira in April 2023, seemingly positioning himself for another dominant reign. However, Sean Strickland stepped in on short notice at UFC 293 and delivered a massive upset, comprehensively outpointing Adesanya over five rounds to capture the championship.
While acknowledging Strickland`s victory, Adesanya feels the performance doesn`t tell the full story and wants to prove the first fight was an anomaly. “He beat me fair and square in Sydney,” Adesanya admitted, describing it as “5 – Nil. Just whooped my ass, badly.” He attributed the performance partly to his high activity level as champion, stating the loss made him realize he needed to slow down.
“I don’t want to make excuses, because he beat me, but I just want to show him if he beat me at my best,” Adesanya explained. He also added a personal motivation: “Because I used to get bullied a lot as a kid. So he’s an embodiment of that, in a sense, because he attacked me, the inner child. So i just want to protect him and get some get back for him.”
Sean Strickland last competed in February, losing his own rematch for the middleweight title against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312.
