While an immediate championship rematch between Sean Strickland and former champion, Israel Adesanya has been widely floated in the fallout from UFC 293, the newly-minted champion’s teammate, Chris Curtis, has claimed Strickland should fight incoming UFC 294 feature, Paulo Costa in his first attempted title defense.
Strickland, who headlined his first pay-per-view event under the banner of the Dana White-led promotion last weekend, managed to turn in a one of the most jaw-dropping title upset victories to boot, defeating two-time champion, Adesanya in a one-sided unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) success in Sydney, Australia.
And in the immediate aftermath of the shocking upset triumphs, Strickland has been lined up to fight Adesanya in the immediate future in a rematch turnaround, particularly by promotional leader, White.
As far as Adesanya’s head coach is concerned, a rematch between his City Kickboxing student, and newly-crowned titleholder, Strickland could take place as soon as December at UFC 296, or in the opening months of next year.
Could Sean Strickland defend his title against Paulo Costa next?
However, according to middleweight contender, Curtis, the Xtreme Couture staple has claimed his training partner, Strickland and Brazilian favorite, Paulo Costa should share the Octagon next.
“Honestly, I really want to see him (Sean Strickland) fight Paulo (Costa),” Chris Curtis told MMA Fighting. “I know they had beef, and I know Sean really wanted to fight Paulo. He really wanted to beat him up and there was some talk going on there, and Paulo found a reason not to fight.” (Transcribed by MMA News)
The one-time middleweight title challenger has his hands most definitely full at the time of publication despite Curtis’ backing for a title fight with Strickland, with Costa set to feature at UFC 294 next month, welcoming undefeated Chechen finisher, Khamzat Chimaev back to the middleweight limit and active competition to boot.