The former Middleweight champ dipped out on the post-fight press conference.
Israel Adesanya lost his Middleweight championship tonight at UFC 293 (Sat., Sept. 9, 2023) when he lost a unanimous decision to challenger Sean Strickland from inside Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia (watch highlights).
“The Last Stylebender” didn’t speak with commentator Daniel Cormier immediately after the fight like losing champions usually do, so the whole mixed martial arts (MMA) world had to wait until he made an appearance at the UFC 293 post-fight press conference (watch here).
Well, he made a super brief cameo and left.
“Pause. I had a different plan for this, but again, life throws curveballs at you,” Adesanya told the media. “Win or lose, I wasn’t going to say much anyway, but right now, I lost tonight to the better man on the night and I just want to go with the people who care about me – my team. They are waiting for me, so I’m going to do that, but I’ll leave you in the capable hands of a man who is much smarter than me… I’ll leave it with Eugene Bareman, who will handle this for the first time.”
After the former champion abruptly left, his long-time head coach Eugene Bareman issued a statement and took questions from the media.
“Definitely not protocol, but um, this is our team. This is how we do it. He wants to go, he wants to be protected, it’s our job to protect him. So if this is what he wants, this is what he gets,” Bareman said. “He is in a time of need right now, so if I have to sit up here in front of you guys, then I have to sit up in front of you guys for him.”
The loss to Strickland was only Adesanya’s third defeat in the UFC and only his second at Middleweight. After an incredibly impressive run, “The Last Stylebender” is 1-2 in his last three fights.
For complete UFC 293 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.