Israel Adesanya says that he is going to make his upcoming title fight with Sean Strickland at UFC293 “look easy”.
Israel Adesanya Makes Comparison to Luke Rockhold Vs Michael Bisping
In an interview which was shared by DJ MurkCity on Twitter, Israel Adesanya made comparisons between his upcoming bout with Sean Strickland, to that of Michael Bisping’s huge upset win over former champion Luke Rockhold.
Strickland has agreed to take the fight at relatively short notice with only one month to prepare for the bout on September 9th. He will come into the fight as a huge betting underdog but Adesanya is conscious not to underestimate his opponent.
“I never underestimate anyone. I was even thinking about Bisping vs Rockhold, when Bisping finally beat him. Took the fight on like 1.5 weeks notice or something, two weeks notice. Goes in there and shocks the world. That’s a reality. My job is to make sure it’s not in this reality. That’s another parallel universe. Another timeline.”
The fight does have some resemblance to Michael Bisping’s title win over Luke Rockhold. Strickland, similarly to Bisping, has had what you could describe as an up and down career, with plenty of wins and losses along the way. Both Strickland and Bisping took their title fight’s on late notice with Bisping’s certainly being more ‘last minute’ after Chris Weidman was forced to withdraw from his scheduled fight with Rockhold.
Bisping was a huge betting underdog going into that title fight and many considered it to be a foregone conclusion for Rockhold. Strickland finds himself in the same situation with many disregarding his chances against the current champion.
Adesanya Claims to Make It “Look Easy”
Adesanya is clearly as confident as ever and returns to the octagon after conquering his previous demon in Alex Pereira. Despite being confident of victory, Adesanya is refusing the underestimate Strickland and what he brings to the table.
“So like yeah, I’m very aware of the dangers that he brings. And the stuff that he’s really good at so I don’t take this lightly. You guys have seen me, you see I’ve been working. I’m not underestimating this guy but at the same time, I’m not overestimating him. I want to make this look easy. I’m going to make this look easy. Because of the work that we’re doing right now. The way I’m working right now, I just know.”
Can Strickland Cause an Upset?
In order for Sean Strickland to win this fight he will need to try and expose Adesanya’s weaknesses. Adesanya implements a traditional kickboxing style and has been found wanting at times on the ground. Strickland has been touted as an excellent grappler, however, it isn’t something that we have seen too much from him. Sean tends to fight behind the jab but in doing so, leaves himself open to being exploited by a prolific striker like Adesanya. Strickland found that out the hard way against Alex Pereira and found himself on the end of a highlight reel knockout.
Pereira and Strickland are now training partners, which could give Strickland an insight to where Adesanya’s vulnerablilities are. For him to have a chance at winning this fight, Strickland will need to make it a dog fight, make it scrappy and fight up close. If he finds himself fighting at range against Adesanya, he could find himself in for a tough night at the office.
The Build-Up
One thing that is for sure, is that the build-up to the fight will be explosive. Adesanya and Strickland have publicly had their back and forth’s previously and it is safe to say that the two are very polarising characters.
Strickland, who is outspoken, to put it mildly, will look to get underneath Adesanya’s skin at every opportunity and Izzy will be more than happy to engage in any public discussions. This should make for an entertaining fight week that will capture the imagination.
The fight itself appears to be a bit of a mismatch on paper but as we have seen before so many times in this crazy game that we love so much… Anything can happen.
All quotes are to be credited to www.combatsportsuk.co.uk
Can Sean Strickland cause an upset? Will Israelm Adesanya get a highlight reel knockout? How excited are you for the build-up for this fight? Let us know in the comments section.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
