Israel Adesanya can live with losing to Dricus Du Plessis, but coming up short against Sean Strickland is still a tough pill to swallow for the two-time titleholder.
Nearly a year removed from his unanimous decision loss to Strickland, ‘The Last Stylebender’ returned to the Octagon at UFC 305 for a middleweight title clash against reigning champion Dricus Du Plessis. Through three rounds things were fairly even between the two, but it all came crashing down in the fourth when a wayward right hand appeared to catch Adesanya, sending him crashing to the canvas where he would succumb to a rear-naked choke shortly after.
DDP SUBMITS ADESANYA IN ROUND 4 😳 #UFC305 pic.twitter.com/SY93EvS1ew
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 18, 2024
It was the first time Adesanya had lost back-to-back bouts in his mixed martial arts career. Still, the ‘Stylebender’ was in relatively good spirits and even shared a heartwarming moment with ‘DDP’ backstage following the fight.
Appearing on the Who The Fook Are These Guys? podcast, Adesanya’s coach Eugene Bareman confirmed that while Adesanya is handing his loss to Du Plessis well, coming up short against Strickland last September is something the City Kickboxing star will never get over.
“The Strickland loss, he’ll never get over,” Bareman said. “You just fought badly, and it was unexplainable. It’s intangible. It’s not measurable what caused it. You just go down a rabbit hole of a million things. But the Dricus fight, he was doing well. It was a great contest, and he got outmaneuvered. He got outdone.
“You can figure out exactly what happened, follow the path, figure out what went wrong, and it’s very traceable. Those losses are much easier to figure out rather than the unexplained sort of losses that kind of leave you scratching your head a little bit. So, he’s fine in that respect. Any loss is hard, but trust me this one’s a lot easier to take than the Strickland one.”
Israel Adesanya Believes an Opportunity to Run it Back with Strickland Will Come
In February, Adesanya expressed interest in a rematch with Strickland while appearing on the This Past Weekend podcast with Theo Von.
“I just know the Strickland fight will come back around,” Adesanya said. “I’m in a good place now health-wise, and mentally, and I know exactly what happened in that fight that just wasn’t for me.”
If it’s Strickland he wants, he could be waiting a while.
Even before Du Plessis tapped out Adesanya in Perth, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed that ‘Tarzan’ was next up for the winner. Presumably, ‘DDP’ vs. Strickland 2 will go down sometime in early 2025 leaving Adesanya with no choice but to accept his first non-title fight since February 2019.
One solid win should get Adesanya right back into the mix, but no matter what happens, it’s hard to imagine that his path won’t cross with Strickland’s at some point.
Watch the full interview below:
