UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya wants to show off his ground game vs. Sean Strickland.
Adesanya (24-2 MMA, 13-2 UFC) defends his middleweight title against Strickland (27-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 293 headliner at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews/ESPN+ and early prelims on ESPN+.
“The Stylebender” has achieved plenty in his career, but one thing he’s yet to do is submit someone.
“Definitely take someone’s breath away,” Adesanya told TSN of his goals. “I definitely just want to submit a couple of people. I’ve done the Fight of the Night bullsh*t – it’s not for me. I like clean executions. I’ve had great performances, I’ve had shut-outs, I’ve had a loss, I’ve had a comeback – great comebacks. I think (I want to) showcase my grappling a little bit more, and just take some limbs, take some breaths away.”
Adesanya expects Strickland to grapple, which he thinks could open up a potential submission for him.
“What do I want in my career? Submission – I definitely want a submission,” Adesanya said. “It might be this fight. I know he’s going to wrestle. He’d be dumb not to. I know he’s going to try and mix it up. He’s doing this whole thing: ‘Man dance … man dance.’ He’s going to crotch sniff. That’s what he’s going to do.”
However, when going up against another elite kickboxer in former middleweight champ Alex Pereira at UFC 276, Strickland didn’t grapple – and he paid for it heavily when he was knocked out in Round 1. But Adesanya doubts he ditches his game plan when they square off.
“He’s got smart coaches and they will definitely beat it into him,” Adesanya said. “I know they’ve been talking about it and he’s like, ‘What? Crotch sniff? I’m going to box.’ You really think he’s going to box with me? The Pereira fight, I called it. I told him focus on your f*cking job because he’s going to knock you out. What did he do? He knocked him out because he wasn’t focused on his job. He was focused on me.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 293.
