Israel Adesanya backs Sean Strickland after ‘Sucker punch’ on Dricus du Plessis at UFC 296: ‘I liked it’
Former two-time undisputed middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya has backed Sean Strickland after his former opponent engaged in a heated brawl with incoming opponent and UFC 297 headliner, Dricus du Plessis over the weekend at UFC 296, congratulating him on his “sucker punch”.
Adesanya, a former two-time undisputed middleweight champion, has been sidelined since he headlined UFC 293 back in September in Australia, dropping his title in a one-sided unanimous decision loss to Strickland – becoming the first titleholder in Octagon antiquity to lose his championship twice in the space of a year.
Expected to take a long-term hiatus, Adesanya claimed after his loss to Strickland that he may remain sidelined until 2027 at the very earliest, before claiming a potential future at a UFC Fight Night Saudi Arabia event in March may appeal to him.
Israel Adesanya praises Sean Strickland brawl at UFC 296
Sharing his thoughts on a massive brawl between the above-mentioned, Strickland and du Plessis in the crowd at UFC 296 over the weekend, Adesanya praised the altercation between the duo.
“I mean, at least he didn’t call him a n*****,” Israel Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “Fully respectable champions and title challengers, that’s what they did. ‘Oh, Israel is so embarrassing as a champion. Goes in the cage, meh, meh, meh.’ Then this si what they do.”
“They sucker punch them,” Israel Adesanya continued. “He actually did. He [Sean Strickland] jumped over the chair, sucker punched him [Dricus du Plessis] and they had a little scrap. I liked it. I like a sh*t show. Don’t we all? We all see a car crash, we won’t look away.”
When do you expect Israel Adesanya to make his return to the Octagon?
