Dana White ‘Absolutely’ in Favor of Sean Strickland-Israel Adesanya Rematch

If Israel Adesanya had an off night at UFC 293, he may very well get a chance to right that wrong in short order.

“The Last Stylebender” relinquished the middleweight strap to Sean Strickland via unanimous decision in Saturday’s headliner at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia. It’s a result that will likely go down as one of the biggest upsets in UFC history.

“Israel looked like he was in slow motion,” UFC president Dana White said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “He looked like he couldn’t get off. He looked like he was really stiff tonight. He looked very slow.

“There are a million things that could go wrong. Some days you wake up and you’re just not there, man. It’s 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. So I don’t know if he’s hurt or if tonight’s the night.”

Adesanya only gave a brief statement on the podium, instead deferring to City Kickboxing coach Eugene Bareman to handle questions from the media. Still, White believes the former champion is more than deserving of an immediate rematch.

“I think you do the rematch, absolutely,” White said. “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.”

With that being said, White also credited Strickland for proving the doubters wrong with his performance in the Octagon.

“He came into hostile territory with the whole world talking s—t about him, the whole world saying he couldn’t do it,” White said. “A seven-to-one underdog, he came in and almost finished him in the first round and won the championship, won the world title. Everything that we’re talking about right now about how crazy this sport is, when opportunities arise, you jump on them and you take them. You should never turn down fights when you get the call, especially if it’s for a world title.”

If a rematch is the UFC’s desire, Strickland himself won’t offer much resistance.

“If I’ve learned anything about the UFC, it’s when do you have a f—-ing choice of who you fight?” Strickland said. “The UFC never comes up here and says ‘Hey Sean, would you like to fight this guy or would you like to fight this guy?’ The UFC says ‘Hey, you’re fighting this guy, fight this guy.’

“At the end of the day I’m the champion, so f—-ing line them up, I’ll knock them down or get knocked down.”