Combat sports are violently unpredictable. This is especially true of MMA because of the multivariate nature of their sport. One mistake, one miscalculation, one momentary lapse in concentration can see one planted firmly on the canvas.

And this was proven yet again by Sean Strickland‘s victory over Israel Adesanya at UFC 293. And surprisingly, Strickland dominated Adesanya for almost all of the fight. Most were stunned at the fight’s outcome as it was one of the biggest upsets in UFC history. And on his YouTube channel, ‘Izzy’ has revealed how a switch in opponents may have contributed to him losing his title to Strickland earlier this month.

Israel Adesanya on how the change from Dricus Du Plessis to Sean Strickland affected him

At UFC 293, #1 ranked middleweight Dricus Du Plessis was originally supposed to face Adesanya for the UFC middleweight title after their protracted beef, but pulled out to recover from an injury. Strickland was then chosen as a replacement for the then-middleweight champion in Australia. ‘Stylebender’ revealed that this switch made him switch off his intensity a little bit and may have contributed to his loss, something his coach Eugene Bareman pointed out to him.

“Someone said something to me. I think it was EB [Adesanya’s coach Eugene Bareman], he said as soon as the opponent switched, he said, like almost instantly it was like I went from with Dricus I went like I want to f***ing kill this dude, like I had this thing about me,” he said.

Adesanya on wanting to ‘kill’ DDP

The Kiwi-Nigerian added that he himself noticed that while he wanted to ‘kill’ Dricus due to their ‘real African’ beef, he could not muster the same vitriol and emotions when facing ‘Tarzan’.  

“And [he] said, like, when the opponent switched he just noticed I was like okay I’m gonna whoop this dude. Like going from I’m gonna murder this mother****er, I’m gonna f***ing kill this guy to, oh yeah, I’m gonna whoop this dude. That’s something maybe just happened. I did notice that, I guess,” ‘Izzy’ added.

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Whatever the reasons behind the shocking upset may be, Strickland proved that when the rubber met the road, he was a better fighter than Adesanya, at least that night. Worse still, the nature of the defeat has many arguing that ‘Izzy’, one of the greatest UFC fighters of all time, does not deserve an immediate rematch. But, Adesanya is no stranger to coming back from tough defeats, and writing him off in the rematch (or any match, for that matter) would be a monumental mistake.

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