Ian Machado Garry defends Israel Adesanya’s UFC 293 loss: ‘He lost the fight more than Sean Strickland won’
Sharing his thoughts on former two-time middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya’s title loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 over the weekend, unbeaten welterweight, Ian Machado Garry has claimed the City Kickboxing staple lost the bout more than the newly-minted champion actually won the clash.
Headlining the promotion’s return to Sydney, Australia, Adesanya suffered a rather comprehensive unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) loss to outspoken challenger, Strickland, dropping his undisputed middleweight championship as a result.
The loss came as City Kickboxing mainstay, Adesanya’s second in his three most recent Octagon walks, having first lost the middleweight crown to common-opponent and arch-rival, Brazilian knockout artist, Alex Pereira back in November of last year at UFC 281 in Madison Square Garden.
Ian Machado Garry defends Israel Adesanya amid his UFC 293 defeat
And targeting a title re-run with Strickland – as soon as UFC 296 in December, if not the early goings of next year by his head coach, Eugene Bareman, Adesanya has been defended as losing the title more than Strickland actually won it from him, according to Dubin striker, Machado Garry.
“I feel like Izzy (Israel Adesanya) lost the fight more than Sean Strickland won the fight,” Ian Machado Garry told MMA Fighting. “I feel like there was a certain point in that fight where Izzy was afraid to lose more than he wanted to win. That is essentially meant that his efficiency, his output, his shot selection wasn’t as elite as it normally is and it gave Sean Strickland the opportunity for his awkwardness to have success, his constant pressure to have success.”
“I feel like if you run that fight back, there’s no way Sean Strickland gets his hand raised again,” Ian Machado Garry explained. “That’s my opinion, but at the end of the day, Sean Strickland got his hand raised and I can never shoot a man for reaching his dream.”
As far as his own future is concerned, undefeated welterweight finisher, Machado Garry has set sights on former interim welterweight champion, Colby Covington – claiming he would walk into Miami, and “slap the mouth off” the former gold holder in the future.
