UFC 293: Sean Strickland upsets Israel Adesanya to become the new middleweight world champion

Last night in Sydney, American Sean Strickland shocked the MMA world. In the main event of UFC 293, he defeated Nigerian champion Adesanya by unanimous decision after 5 rounds, to be crowned the new middleweight king.

He said he would, he did. Sean Strickland brings the UFC middleweight belt back to the USA. A mission he accomplished after dominating champion Israel Adesanya, standing up with his boxing. And that’s no mean feat. Because very few fighters have managed to get the better of “The Last Style Bender” in boxing. In fact, before Strickland, only Alex Pereira had managed this feat.

From the first to the fifth round, Sean Strickland kept chasing the champion, continually pressuring him against the cage, closing the distance and displaying his atypical boxing skills. With 30 seconds left in round one, Strickland rattled Adesanya with a feint left gu and a huge right to the jaw. Seeing the damage, the American lays into the champion with a flurry of punches, but is unable to finish the fight. But Strickland continued his strategy, and although he lost the second round, he dominated the next three with a series of punches to the head of Adesanya. In the final seconds of the fight, the crowd knows it and goes wild, and so does Strickland: there’s going to be a new champion.

With Bruce Buffer’s announcement and a unanimous decision delivered by the judges, Sean Strickland is officially the new and 13th UFC middleweight champion in history. After a beautiful congratulatory scene between the two fighters, Strickland declares that he feels like he’s in a “dream”.