UFC 293: The moment Israel Adesanya found out about Sean Strickland’s past
Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya had no idea about his opponent’s history heading into this weekend’s main event bout at UFC 293. Here’s the moment he found out.
Israel Adesanya jerks forward in his chair, eyes wide, mouth open and bangs on the table.
“He’s a what? A former Nazi?!!? No way.”
Until that moment, mid-interview on Tuesday afternoon in Sydney, Adesanya had no idea about Sean Strickland’s past.
The Nigerian-born Kiwi, who will defend his middleweight title against Strickland at UFC 293 this weekend, needs confirmation, so calls out to his manager.
“Tim! Did you know Sean was a former Neo Nazi?”
The shock news is confirmed.
“I had no idea,” he says, eyes still wide. “I’ll do some deep diving on him, because this is breaking news.
“Wow…he’s gonna loooove me, then. Wooo, is he gonna love me.”
When Adesanya does his deep dive, he’ll learn more about the past Strickland has been running from for 20 years.
Born dirt poor, the 31-year-old American was raised by an abusive father and a “white supremacist” grandfather who infested his young mind with the hateful ideology.
Strickland was a rage-filled and confused teenager until he discovered MMA and began interacting with people of different backgrounds, ethnicities and races.
Strickland has been open about his past, and is on what he calls a path of “repentance”, but still comes across as unhinged much of the time.
Some of that crudeness has come out in his comments about Adesanya over the past two months.
His insults have ranged from labelling Adesanya “spineless” to calling him a “sleeper agent for the CCP – China” and demanding that “his black card be revoked.”
Adesanya doesn’t read too much into those comments.
“I worked in China, I travelled the world,” he says. “I got him a passport, he didn’t have one, so he should be grateful.
“There’s nothing insulting about being Chinese.”
The Stylebender is even more blunt when asked about Strickland demanding his “black card” be revoked: “Try me.”
Their beef began well before this fight was booked. It stems from a moment at a press conference ahead of UFC 276, 15 months ago when the duo was backstage and Adesanya gave Strickland a “tap on the ass.”
“He didn’t do anything – nothing,” Adesanya says.
Strickland‘s trash talk kicked off once the press conference began.
“It’s only when the cameras are around that he tries all this sh*t,” Adesanya says. “But when I’m around, he doesn’t bark at me like that.
“And you know I keep receipts. So I smacked him, he does nothing, then when we’re onstage, he’s like, ‘I’ll come down there right now’.
“But there was no security backstage. He could’ve turned around and we could’ve gone right there.”
Adesanya says the interaction taught him everything he needs to know about his opponent.
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Well, everything that is until this week’s revelations of Strickland‘s past.
“You have one chance to make a first impression, and if you want to be a tough guy, make it that first impression,” he says. “After that, it doesn’t work.
“So I’ve just found it weird, and that’s why I say that he’s a very insecure individual. Very insecure.”
Originally published as UFC 293: The moment Israel Adesanya found out about Sean Strickland’s past
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