Dethroned ten months ago by Alex Pereira, then brilliant winner of the revenge against the Brazilian in April 2023, Israel Adesanya once again abandons his title of middleweight world champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). While he was favored by the predictions, the Nigerian lost on Sunday September 10 in Sydney to the American Sean Strickland by unanimous decision.
2 mins
“The Last Stylebender”, as he is nicknamed, falls from a height. Very high, even. Returned to the middleweight throne only five months ago after a new anthology fight against his best enemy, Alex Pereira, Israel Adesanya seemed to have once again become the untouchable fighter who had methodically cleaned up the category in recent years. But here he is beaten again.
However, the Nigerian did not have the most anticipated fighter facing him at UFC 293. South African Dricus Du Plessis, on an upward slope and with whom he has been bickering a lot lately, could not be there due to a foot injury. The UFC therefore named Sean Strickland as the champion’s opponent at the Sydney SuperDome.
Strickland sounds Adesanya… who will never really resurface
The bookmakers didn’t give much credit for the American, efficient and mocking, but a priori less technically gifted and less complete than Adesanya. After the usual verbal invectives to raise the temperature, the two men were finally able to meet face to face in the Australian cage, for the main event (main fight) of this UFC 293. And very quickly, this fight took a bad turn for “Izzy”.
Master of space and threatening with his long legs broken in kickboxing, Israel Adesanya nevertheless experienced a terrible end to the first round. Hard hit by a powerful right from Sean Strickland in the last 30 seconds, the Nigerian had to hang on to survive this recovery. The second was more serene for him, but the champion did not show the conquering face to which he had accustomed observers.
Unable to really set a rhythm, touched several times without gravity, Adesanya gradually saw the victory and the belt escape from his hands to land in those of a very diligent Strickland. The inexorable defeat took shape without the Nigerian being able to react. And at the end of the five rounds, the three judges logically awarded victory by unanimous decision to the American.
The middleweights have a new king. For Israel Adesanya, 34 years old and now three defeats – for 24 victories – in mixed martial arts (MMA), the time for questions is already back.