Adesanya ready to face Strickland again

Nigerian-New Zealander, Israel Adesanya is not dismissing the possibility of him squaring up with Sean Strickland in a rematch. The two met last year in a match that saw Adesanya lose his recently-regained middleweight title to Strickland. But Adesanya believes all is not over as he still has it in mind to avenge that loss. 

The Stylebender is no stranger to revenge wins, as he recently had one against Alex Pereira last year, where he won back the title he lost to him in a previous match. Speaking in an interview recently, Adesanya said he may have taken longer to settle scores with Pereira but it would not take as much time against Strickland. He said: “[the Pereira revenge] took me six years to accomplish. With Strickland, it won’t take me that long. Let me just get through DDP first. Let me handle – I look to the next fight. I look ahead, like a little peek at the future. But I don’t try and focus on it.”

Dricus Du Plessis is another man Adesanya has on his radar, after the former called him out when he defeated Strickland to become the new middleweight champion. Fighting Du Plessis gives Adesanya a shot at becoming the middleweight champion for the third time, but there is no timeline on when the two would clash.  

Although Strickland may not be the champion anymore, Adesanya still has his sights on him and would love to step in the cage with him simply for the satisfaction of beating him to make their record 1-1. But he is not chasing down the fight as he believes it will happen when the time is right: “I just know the Strickland fight will come back around. I’m in a good place now, health-wise and mentally, and I know exactly what happened in that fight that just wasn’t for me. He’s a great fighter. He’s also a good champion. What a reign. I mean, he did what he did. He did what he did. Look, even the way he beat me, it was spectacular. It was his moment.”

Adesanya appears prepared to come back to the upper echelons of the middleweight division, as he seems to have recovered from the title loss and is ready to move on with more fights. The coming weeks might reveal his next opponent and how much chance he has at a title fight.

Leon Osamor