No one expected Sean Strickland to beat the then-middleweight champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 293. Which is why his five-round domination of ‘Izzy’ is considered one of the biggest upsets in UFC history. Unfortunately, ‘Tarzan’ failed to defend his title and lost it to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 on Sunday.

While their fight was extremely close, with many including Dana White, being of the opinion that the American had won the main event bout. Michael Bisping, however, felt that Strickland had underperformed. One of the reasons, according to him, was the pressure on him.

Bisping compares Strickland’s UFC 293 victory to him beating Rockhold

Michael Bisping felt that Strickland being bereft of any expectations of actually beating Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 took all of the pressure off of him. This, he believes, is a major factor behind his victory.

Bisping compared Strickland’s triumph over Adesanya to when he had won the championship against Luke Rockhold back in 2016. Bisping, who had one working eye at that point, took the bout on two weeks’ notice with no little pressure as no one expected him to win.

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“When I fought [Luke] Rockhold on two weeks’ notice, I was so free, I didn’t feel any pressure. If I get the job done, I’m champion of the world. If I’m not, so what? Nobody’s giving me a chance, anyway. So you just go out there and swing. That’s what Sean did in Australia and he becomes champion of the world,” the UFC commentator said.

However, a lot has changed since UFC 293, with Strickland experiencing all the attention, fame, and money that has come his way. Bisping felt that the pressure that came with this led to Strickland’s loss, and it was apparent from his eyes.

“This time when he’s walking out there, everything changes. You’re the champion and you’re getting all this attention, you’re making extra money, you’re getting endorsements [from] supplement deals. Your Instagram following is going through the roof. You’re famous. You’re on the verge of being very wealthy. That changes everything, and you can see the pressure from Sean Strickland’s eyes,” he added. While Strickland may be hoping for an immediate rematch, that seems unlikely, as evidenced from who Du Plessis’ called out after his victory.

‘DDP’ looking to fight Israel Adesanya next

Dricus Du Plessis, as the new middleweight champion, wasted no time in calling out Israel Adesanya to resolve the unfinished business between them. ‘DDP’ and the former champion were involved in a heated feud after the South African made comments that Adesanya construed as questioning his African-ness.

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The bad blood between them reached its zenith in their bizarre, expletive-laden face-off at UFCC 290. ‘Izzy’ was originally slated to face Du Plessis at UFC 293. However, an injury forced the South African to pull out, and Strickland stepped in. The rest, as they say, is history.

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