Coach claims Israel Adesanya, Sean Strickland title fight close for UFC 293 headliner: ‘It’s pointing in a good direction’
Xtreme Couture coach, Eric Nicksick has confirmed that all signs are currently pointing towards a UFC 293 middleweight title fight between champion, Israel Adesanya, and his student, Sean Strickland for September – as the latter is currently attempting to trash out issues with his visa.
Strickland, the current number five ranked middleweight contender, most recently turned in an impressive stoppage victory last month in a main event slot – defeating the highly-touted, Abusupiyan Magomedov with a second round slew of strikes for a TKO win.
As for Adesanya, the two-time and current division gold holder has been sidelined himself since he headlined UFC 287 back in April in Miami, Florida – landing a second round KO win over arch–rival and common-foe, Alex Pereira to reclaim the undisputed middleweight crown.
And with an expected title grudge match against the newly-minted number one ranked, Dricus du Plessis falling to the wayside in recent weeks, Adesanya offered to travel ‘Down Under’ and defend his championship against the outspoken, Strickland.
Sean Strickland attempting to sort visa issues to book UFC 293 return
Setting a deadline for the beginning of this week to setup a title pairing with the City Kickboxing staple in Australia, Strickland’s head coach has now revealed that a title fight is moving in the “good direction”.
“I mean, all signs are pointing in a good direction,” Eric Nicksick told Submission Radio. “I know that. So, we just got done sparring just now. I’d ask Sean (Strickland), hey, what’s the deal? I’m going to be out there (Australia) anyway. I’m going to be cornering Casey O’Neill, and Manel (Kape). So, it’d be nice to get a third guy on the card.”
“We’re just kind of at the mercy of the visa process,” Nicksick explained. “But he (Sean Strickland) said all parties involved are on board. We haven’t talked about any logistics as far as numbers go until that visa gets done. And then that would be the next hurdle. But I don’t think it would be that difficult of a hurdle to cross. But moreover, I think the visa thing is the biggest hurdle that we have to get through right now. And then once we get over that, man, and then the business kicks in and I think we’ll be good to go.”
