Dana White Wants Adesanya Vs. Strickland 2 Next

Ugh, another immediate championship rematch?

Sean Strickland upset Israel Adesanya to win the Middleweight championship last night at UFC 293 (Sat., Sept. 9, 2023) when he overwhelmed him for five rounds to win a clear unanimous decision. Strickland picked up a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for his mind-blowing upset win.

After the fight during the UFC 293 post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White revealed that an immediate rematch would be interesting and could be next.

“I think you do the rematch, absolutely,” White told the media. “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.”

Unfortunately, no one got to hear the answers from Adesanya because he left the post-fight press conference and let his coach talk for him (read all about that here).

White did admit he thought Adesanya looked slow and off during UFC 293.

“Israel looked like he was in slow motion,” White said. “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 go 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. Even in the fifth round, when everybody knew he needed a knockout to win the fight, there was no sense of urgency to try to finish the fight. So I don’t know if he’s hurt or if tonight’s the night.”

The UFC has a fetish for booking immediate championship rematches after the defending champion loses (look at Noche UFC next weekend).

Adesanya has lost two of his last three fights and probably needs a reset, as he has fought a lot as a champion. On the other hand, Strickland has won three straight since losing to Jared Cannonier.

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For complete UFC 293 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.