Sean Strickland defeated Israel Adesanya to become the UFC middleweight champion at UFC 293. The 32-year-old challenged one of the greatest strikers in the sport’s history but stayed composed throughout the five-round contest and walked down Adesanya en route to a dominant unanimous decision win.
While speaking at the UFC 293 post-fight press conference, Sean Strickland extended an apology to Hunter Campbell and UFC president Dana White for dethroning one of the organization’s biggest pay-per-view stars. Sean Strickland was asked by journalists to share his thoughts on the upset, and he hilariously replied:
“Yeah, right… How did this person get the belt? Who let this happen? Man, Hunter [Campbell] and Dana [White] are probably like, ‘This guy! How did we let this retard get a belt? We messed up! Why did we agree to this? So many other options and we let Sean Strickland fight Izzy’. No, no, no! Hey, sorry guys!”
Watch Sean Strickland make the statement from the 14:57 mark of the video below:
Sean Strickland gives props to Israel Adesanya following his UFC 293 win
Israel Adesanya was massively favored to defeat ‘Tarzan’ because of the strength of his resume. Sean Strickland gave the kickboxing and MMA great all the credit he deserved during the octagon interview and stated:
“Izzy is bad guy [inside the octagon] guys. You don’t fight that guy with… how many highlight reel knockouts… He’s beaten the majority of my friends. He’s beaten them pretty easily. So I was kind of doubting myself…”
Watch his octagon interview below: