Israel Adesanya has kicked off his second stint as middleweight champion on Saturday when he faces Sean Strickland in the main event of UFC 293.
The event goes down from Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.
After suffering a dramatic late knockout loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 281, Adesanya came back to score his own knockout of Pereira to regain the championship at UFC 287. That win was Adesanya’s first over Pereira after also losing twice to his rival in kickboxing.
It appeared Adesanya would make the first defense of his new reign against Dricus Du Plessis, but Du Plessis was not available for UFC 293, resulting in Strickland getting the call on the strength of two wins in a row.
In the co-main event, crowd favorite Tai Tuivasa will look to bring his countrymen to their feet when he takes on Alexander Volkov in heavyweight action.
Strickland talks a good game and appears to have major-league cardio after going the five-round distance in four of his last six fights. But he’s a major underdog here for a reason.
Without big-time power, a sturdy chin or a dominant wrestling game, Strickland simply doesn’t have the ammunition or requisite technical skills to be a bother for the champion.
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