Adesanya Vs. Strickland Rematch, Cormier On Izzy Vs. Du Plessis

Dana White is keen to see a rematch between Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland following their UFC 293 clash.

Strickland upset the odds to beat Adesanya via a unanimous decision to secure the middleweight title. The result was a massive blow to Adesanya, who was making his first defense of the title.

Prior to the fight, Izzy vowed to make things ‘look easy.’ But the performance was anything but that. And yet, just as Adesanya was given an immediate rematch against Alex Pereira, White is looking to do something similar.

After all, Adesanya has shown that he is capable of avenging his losses after having knocked out Pereira in the rematch.

White On Adesanya-Strickland Rematch

“I think you do the rematch, absolutely. The rematch is interesting. That could be the thing, too. When you think about you’re going into the [Alex] Pereira fight, such a big fight, and you’ve been in there with this guy so many times, and then you overlook Strickland. You come in and I don’t know. I don’t know the answers to these questions, but Israel does, and I’m looking forward to hearing it,” White

One factor that could help bring that about is if Strickland desires to run things back. The perception in the aftermath of the victory was that Adesanya simply had an off night.

But whether that was down to his own lacklustre performance, or simply Strickland’s brilliance is always going to be a hot topic.

Therefore, there is a narrative that could emerge out of this for Strickland’s desire to prove that it was not a one-off performance. And when it came to White, he did notice some things that were not fully right with Adesanya in the fight.

“Israel looked like he was in slow motion. He looked like he couldn’t get off. He looked like he was really stiff tonight. He looked very slow. Only Israel knows what’s going on, there are a million things that could have gone wrong. Some days, you wake up, and you’re just not there. He looked bone-dry tonight, standing up really tall. He looked very slow. He looked like he couldn’t get off at all. Even in the fifth round, when everybody knew he needed a knockout to win the fight, there was no sense of urgency to try to finish the fight,” White

Cormier On Adesanya

Despite this being the case, Daniel Cormier was against the idea of Izzy getting a rematch. Those comments did go against the grain given that Adesanya is one of the biggest draws in the sport.

However, for Cormier, he simply felt it was time to give someone else a chance. Now that Strickland has the belt, it could open up the doors for more fighters to get a shot, as well as granting Strickland better paydays.

And yet, Adesanya’s pulling power is strong which is why a rematch is likely. But when it came to that topic of discussion, this is what Cormier had to say.

“The last time Izzy lost, all we could speak about was he should be next again. I don’t think that this time. I don’t think he should fight for a belt next. I don’t think he should get an automatic rematch. I think the division needs to move on a little bit. It’s like a brand new world, right? Like The Little Mermaid – a whole new world. Sean Strickland now opens up the possibility of so many fresh matchups. Cannonier just weighed in also and has a victory over Sean Strickland,” Cormier

This naturally begs the question: who would Adesanya face next? Well, prior to facing Strickland, Adesanya was looking likely to have faced Dricus Du Plessis.

In the aftermath of his win over Robert Whittaker, Izzy and Du Plessis faced off against each other in the cage. However, the fight did not end up getting made due to the short turnaround time. But now it appears that Cormier has called for that fight.

“But I’ve got to imagine Dricus Du Plessis will be the next guy, especially after being the one that was supposed to be here tonight. I’ll tell you, he’s kicking himself in South Africa right now, because if there was a time to get Adesanya, tonight was the night,” Cormier

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