The best upset in UFC middleweight title combat historical past belongs to Sean Strickland.
Strickland (28-5) shocked the combined martial arts world Saturday as he claimed the 185-pound championship in a five-round determination over arguably the best middleweight of all time in Israel Adesanya. The middleweight title combat headlined UFC 293 inside Qudos Financial institution Area in Sydney.
Going into Saturday, the most important upset in middleweight title combat historical past belonged to Michael Bisping, who famously knocked out Luke Rockhold in a short-notice combat in 2016. Strickland’s victory was far much less possible, based on betting odds: He was a +500 underdog to Adesanya, making it the biggest betting upset ever in a UFC middleweight title combat. (Bisping was +400 towards Rockhold.)
And the way in which wherein he did it — convincingly, over the course of 5 rounds — made it much more unbelievable.
“Am I f—ing dreaming?” requested Strickland, who earned 49-46 scores from all three judges. “Am I going to get up? Any person hit me. Actually, by no means in one million years did I feel I used to be going to be right here.
“Izzy is a foul motherf—er. You do not combat a man with that many highlight-reel KOs. The vast majority of my mates, he is beat fairly straightforward. I used to be even type of doubting myself at occasions.”
Adesanya was making the primary protection of his second reign as middleweight champion. He regained the 185-pound belt in April with a knockout of Alex Pereira.
He made no excuses for his loss throughout a short look on the postfight information convention Saturday, earlier than leaving his coach, Eugene Bareman, to take questions from reporters.
“I had a distinct plan for this, however life throws curveballs at you,” Adesanya mentioned. “Win or lose, I wasn’t going to say a lot anyway, however proper now, I misplaced tonight to the higher man on the night time and I simply need to be with individuals who care about me, my staff, so I’ll go do this.”
UFC president Dana White mentioned he “completely” thinks a Strickland-Adesanya rematch is so as.
“The rematch is attention-grabbing,” White mentioned. “That may very well be the factor too. You go into the Pereira combat, it is such an enormous combat, and then you definately overlook Strickland? I do not know the solutions to those questions, however Israel does and I am wanting ahead to listening to them.”
In response to UFC Stats, Strickland outlanded Adesanya 137-94 in complete strikes. He dropped Adesanya with a proper hand within the opening spherical, turning into the primary fighter to take action in UFC. Even when Adesanya (24-3) suffered a TKO loss to Pereira of their first UFC combat in 2022, Pereira by no means knocked him down.
A former welterweight, Strickland, 32, wasn’t even speculated to be difficult Adesanya on Saturday. UFC initially checked out a championship combat between Adesanya and South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis, however du Plessis was unable to just accept the combat attributable to harm. Adesanya campaigned for Strickland to take du Plessis’ place.
That proved to be a mistake, as Strickland basically neutralized the defending champion’s offense. Aside from a few minutes within the second spherical, Adesanya appeared uncomfortable and not sure of his weapons, even in a combat that by no means touched the ground. The vast majority of the photographs he landed have been glancing, and Strickland confirmed little or no put on and tear after 25 minutes.
Strickland, who was born in California and now trains out of Las Vegas, yelled in Adesanya’s path throughout the ultimate minute of the combat. He had spent a lot of the championship combat buildup taunting and insulting Adesanya, who helped him land the chance within the first place.
Adesanya, who has now misplaced twice within the span of three fights, graciously accepted the defeat. He raised Strickland’s arm as soon as the outcomes have been learn after which exited the Octagon.
Stylistically, there was nothing stunning about Strickland’s method. He’s well-known for his plodding, upright boxing fashion. His protection was maybe a bit neglected, nonetheless, as he did enter the competition with the most effective putting protection of any lively UFC middleweight. Unofficially, he defended 65% of Adesanya’s strike makes an attempt Saturday.
ESPN ranked Adesanya the No. 4 pound-for-pound fighter on the planet going into UFC 293. Strickland was UFC’s No. 5-ranked middleweight and was solely 2-2 in his previous 4 bouts.