Dana White Calls For An Adesanya Vs. Strickland Rematch
UFC President Dana White has welcomed another fight between Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland.
Strickland caused a major upset by overcoming Adesanya on the scorecards in a unanimous-decision win at UFC 293. The performance was impressive too, as Strickland dropped Adesanya in the first round. The win made Strickland the new UFC middleweight champion, as Adesanya’s first title defense after his victory over Alex Pereira ended in a loss. However, one thing that Adesanya has shown is that he is capable of bouncing back. The knockout win over Pereira had shown that, as he managed to avenge his defeat. And with a similar narrative once again, White was open to the idea of a rematch.
“I think you do the rematch, absolutely. The rematch is interesting. That could be the thing, too. When you think about you’re going into the [Alex] Pereira fight, such a big fight, and you’ve been in there with this guy so many times, and then you overlook Strickland. You come in and I don’t know. I don’t know the answers to these questions, but Israel does, and I’m looking forward to hearing it.
“Israel looked like he was in slow motion. He looked like he couldn’t get off. He looked like he was really stiff tonight. He looked very slow. Only Israel knows what’s going on, there are a million things that could have gone wrong. Some days, you wake up, and you’re just not there. He looked bone-dry tonight, standing up really tall. He looked very slow. He looked like he couldn’t get off at all,” White
Nevertheless, there are options out there if a rematch does not get made. A fight with Dricus du Plessis may be possible if the South African is willing to fight without a belt being up for grabs. But given that he had previously spoken about wanting to be the first fighter to bring the belts back to Africa, an Adesanya fight no longer holds the same value.
Social Media Reaction
He will adjust and win this fight as he always do 🔥
— Jakeisfake (@Jakeisfak3) September 11, 2023
Nah. Sean just out manned him
And they’re no denying it. Izzy ran for 3 rounds. He’s been running since the first potain rematch.— andrew (@foiblesarefun) September 11, 2023
Strickland nullified everything IZZY did.
— Crypto V (@cryptovilian) September 11, 2023