With Israel Adesanya preparing to fight Alex Pereira at UFC 281, he named Sean Strickland as someone he would like to fight in the future. Adesanya will defend his title for the sixth time on November 12 against former kickboxing nemesis, ‘Poatan’.
Sitting down with Luke Thomas for Morning Kombat, ‘The Last Stylebender’ was asked about who he would like to fight next after Pereira. Adesanya stated:
“I don’t want to look. I have a few guys like Sean [Strickland]. Sean, I want to whoop that guy just for fun. I want to destroy him, just for fun. For my own benefit.”
Adesanya further claimed that he respected Strickland:
“I respect him though. I respect the fact that he speaks his mind. I do as well. I respect the fact that he openly and stupidly speaks his mind. I can respect that.”
Catch Israel Adesanya’s full interview below:
Interestingly, Adesanya and Strickland had a very heated spat at the pre-fight press conference at UFC 276, when the American went after Adesanya. Strickland made fun of the Nigerian-born New Zealander for his prior losses to Pereira and joked about Adesanya getting “slept” by ‘Poatan’.
Catch Sean Strickland’s comments before UFC 276 below:
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Sean Strickland claims Israel Adesanya will defeat Alex Pereira at UFC 281
Middleweight contender Sean Strickland believes that Israel Adesanya will get the better of his old kickboxing rival, Alex Pereira, when they face each other at UFC 281.
The controversial fighter made an appearance on Brendan Schaub’s Food Truck Diaries in October, where he laid out his prediction:
“I got Izzy. Izzy’s gonna dance around, f***ing run around, fight like a b*tch. He’s not gonna do what I do, he’s not gonna stand in front of him… I think Izzy’s gonna win, Izzy has a very strange body type, he’s very hard to fight.”
Catch Sean Strickland’s full interview below:
Interestingly, Sean Strickland could have potentially fought Adesanya for the title had he defeated Pereira in his last fight at UFC 276. As things stand, Strickland will face Jared Cannonier instead on December 18 at UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs. Strickland.