Israel Adesanya Explains Why UFC Hesitated Booking "Idiot" Sean Strickland For Title Fight

Adesanya gives his side on why the UFC hesitated.

Fernando Quiles Jr. | Aug 15, 2023

Israel Adesanya Explains Why UFC Hesitated Booking "Idiot" Sean Strickland For Title Fight /

UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya has shared his take on why his UFC 293 fight against Sean Strickland took so long to book.

Adesanya and Strickland will indeed be fighting on September 9, but the UFC middleweight title bout was once in doubt. When word got out that Dricus du Plessis wouldn't be able to fight at UFC 293, the UFC was forced to find a new opponent for "The Last Stylebender."

Strickland threw his name in the hat, but initially claimed the UFC didn't want to book him in the fight. Ariel Helwani later confirmed that the promotion wasn't took keen on the matchup. Ultimately, Adesanya got his wish.

UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland. — (via ZUffa LLC)

Speaking to media members, Israel Adesanya revealed how much convincing needed to be done for the promotion to agree to the UFC 293 main event.

"A lot," Adesanya said. "He's an idiot and the UFC don't want him embarrassing the company, but yeah, that's all I'll say about that. So, he should thank me. He should really thank me for actually making him get the fight. I pushed for it. He [Eugene Bareman] knows what happened behind the scenes, and I pushed for it, and I'm glad the UFC trusted me to listen to me."

As far as preparation for UFC 293 before the opponent was decided is concerned, coach Eugene Bareman said he was solely focused on the September 9 date.

"We, right from the very start, put all our concentration and effort into the date, a little bit less focused on the opponent and they put the opponent in front of us," Bareman said.

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Published Aug 15, 2023

FERNANDO QUILES JR.

Fernando has over a decade of combat sports news writing experience. He currently covers MMA, boxing, and pro wrestling. Fernando joined MMA Knockout as the Lead Writer/Editor when it was founded in 2023.