UFC: Israel Adesanya faces off with Sean Strickland at the UFC pre-fight press conference

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Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya (24-2 MMA, 13-2 UFC) met with Sean Strickland (27-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) today for a hot press conference, towards their much-awaited fight on Saturday at the  Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. 

Two-times Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya just recovered his title from Alex Pereira after losing it the same; a rival he owed three loses.

After winning him by a good number of memorial kicks in the second round of UFC 287 in Miami by a stunning victory that had little to do with a show of strength, the audience was awed.

Strickland is a well-trained fighter whose victory over two other guys up the championship hierarchy necessitated a bout with the champion himself. Unlike Adesanya, Strickland is a known grappler who knows how to bring his opponent’s back to the canvas. Adesanya functions better while standing, tied a lot to his background of kickboxing and Muay Thai.

Adesanya at the UFC 293 open workouts

Speaking about this, Adesanya said about Strickland, ‘I hope he wrestles. If not, cool – stand and bang. Do the ‘man dance,’ as you will. He’s selling wolf tickets when he talks about that, by the way. I don’t think he’s going to man dance with me, and if he does, I’m a better dancer than him.’

Both men traded a lot of words at the press conference, with Israel Adesanya repeating promises he had made about the fight.

If Adesanya loses the fight, it would be the first time he failed to defend this belt in a first contest. A look at the kind of thing he says would convince one he must be really sure of himself.

‘I don’t want to knock him out, if that makes sense. It’s just, 1+1 is 2, and I’m going to knock him out. I’d rather submit him to be honest.

‘I want to submit him, but what we’ve worked on and what he does, and his ego, and his brain is just a peanut. So, 1+1 is 2, water is wet, Sean Strickland is getting slept.’