Eugene Bareman, the head coach of Israel Adesanya believes his pupil would win in a rematch against Sean Strickland.
Earlier this month, Adesanya lost his middleweight title to Strickland in a big upset, which also was a one-sided fight. Strickland’s pressure proved to be too much for Adesanya as he dominated for all five rounds on the feet, and even dropped ‘The Last Stylebemder’ in the first round.
Since the fight, Israel Adesanya and his team have been campaigning for a rematch and Eugene Bareman believes the former champ would get the belt back in a rematch.
“Every type of gameplan we’ve imposed on him, every adjustment, every look he’s had in front of him. Sean brought something unique, which was his awkwardness, we have to do a better job at dealing with the style he defends in… But, Israel’s seen everything, not every athlete that gets to the UFC does,” Bareman said to Combat TV.
Eugene Bareman says despite getting knocked down in the first round, he was confident Israel Adesanya would still win the fight. Yet, that is far from the case, as Sean Strickland dominated the scrap to become the new middleweight champion.
‘Unique athlete’
Although the fight was not close, Bareman has a few reasons why he is confident Adesanya would defeat Strickland, and part of that is because of who Adesanya is.
“This is not a normal athlete, this is a unique athlete. I’m not talking about his physical and mental capabilities. I’m talking about over 100 fights at the highest level. No one else has these sorts of athletes. Because no one else has done the extensive work outside of [MMA] to gain this type of high-level experience,” Bareman added.
As of right now, there is no word on whether a rematch between Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya will be next. If it does happen, Adesanya and his team are extremely confident they will get their hand raised.
