Israel Adesanya thought he had Dricus Du Plessis right where he wanted him in the UFC 305 title headliner. However, the South African middleweight and his awkward chimes of windmill striking proved too tough for him. Analyzing the UFC 305 title fight, Sean Strickland took the chance to diss Adesanya. Surprisingly ‘Tarzan’ made shocking claims about Adesanya as a fighter.
Before UFC 305, Dana White said at the DWCS Contender Series 67 post-fight conference that Strickland deserves the winner. It would have been natural for the popular American middleweight to tear into Izzy for that. Instead, he says that across the 12-fight lineup at RAC Arena in Perth, Adesanya’s loss was most acceptable as he isn’t that strong to begin with.
Everyone’s like Izzy is this and that. I’ve sparred Kelvin so many times, where I’m like you kind of had a close fight against Kelvin, like you’re not that fu*king good…Izzy is just not that fu*king good…
Sean Strickland on ‘Verse Us with Eric Nicksick’ – @3point0LabsProduction Podcast/ via YT @vsuspod
After a year of lay-off and a title loss, conversations have risen about Izzy being bad rather than Dricus Du Plessis being good. This now includes Strickland as well. The American middleweight defeated Israel Adesanya at the UFC 293 pay-per-view (PPV) headliner last September.
Adesanya fell prey to the constant pressures, defensive boxing, and body kicks of Strickland. More to it, ‘Tarzan’ alludes to sparring with Kelvin Gastelum and dominating him. Gastelum gave the toughest fight to Adesanya at UFC 236. As such, Strickland questioned Adesanya for having a close fight with KG.
🚨| Sean Strickland says his unpopular MMA opinion is that “Israel Adesanya is not that good.”
He believes this because he claims he’s beaten up Kelvin Gastelum many times in sparring and Adesanya had a close fight with Gastelum.
[per @vsuspod] #UFC305 pic.twitter.com/fXvhDwUlP5
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) August 20, 2024
Gastelum went 1-5 after his loss to Izzy and had many scrappy scraps and weight misses at 170 and 185 pounds. He only recently snagged a win against Daniel Rodriguez at UFC on ABC 6. Hence, Strickland sat with coach Eric Nicksick (who considers he never lost the belt) to tactically take a swipe at Adesanya.
Is Israel Adesanya washed? Is his opposition pool not good enough?
Sean Strickland has been known to take the barb to opponents without reason. After UFC 305’s title headliner, he takes the jibes to Israel Adesanya. Is this tactile move to permanently wipe him out of a title picture? Only time will tell. For now, though, there’s plenty of reason to think so.
Adesanya has given his all to the sport and the UFC. Sadly, his submission loss to Dricus Du Plessis may mean he’s done fighting for UFC titles. His pacing has not been good despite his gargantuan pro-MMA records. The Nigerian Kiwi lost to underdog Strickland, who went 3-0 in 2023. Even before that, he managed a highlight reel KO over Alex Pereira, going 1-3 in total.
Israel Adesanya (Source: IMAGO)His fights against Jared Cannonier and Yoel Romero were regarded as snoozefests. When he first defeated Robert Whittaker, fans still called into the fact that ‘Reaper’ was too chinny and upright in his range striking. The second time around, fans blatantly called robbery. Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori mark his other good scraps. Costa, however, is 1-4 since the title fight in Abu Dhabi.
Adesanya made it very clear after the fight that he will continue to compete. But it’s hard to tell if he has really taken a step back from the top of his game. Or is he treading the mid-lane of performance too long with bad pacing? Izzy fell to 1-3 in his past four fights dating back to November 2022. As such, he will likely have to look for a super fight at 205 pounds if the current middleweight talents don’t interest him.
