Remaining majorly coy on his performance after his shocking UFC 293 championship fight loss to Sean Strickland over the course of last weekend in Sydney, Australia, former two-time champion, Israel Adesanya has vowed to “rise” once more – urging onlookers to “delight in my [his] demise”.
Adesanya, who headlined UFC 293 last Saturday night ‘Down Under’, saw his second title reign atop the middleweight division come to an end for the second time in the space of a year, dropping a one-sided unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) defeat to the above-mentioned, Strickland.
Noting his desire to return to the Octagon in a timely fashion off the back of the upset defeat, Adesanya has been backed by his head coach, City Kickboxing leader, Eugene Bareman to score a title re-run with Strickland as soon as December, or the beginning of 2024 to boot – whilst also receiving the backing for a rematch by UFC leader, Dana White.
Israel Adesanya vows to “rise” again after his UFC 293 loss to Sean Strickland
Refusing to answer questions at the post-fight press conference, and instead electing to offer the microphone to his head coach, Bareman – who claimed Adesanya was looking to gain “protection” after the loss to Strickland, has urged critics of his to continue to “delight” in his downfall.
“Let them delight in my demise,” Israel Adesanya posted on his official Snapchat account. “In the end, I will rise.”
Promising a more competitive fight in a potential second squaring off between Strickland and Adesanya, the above-mentioned, Bareman claimed he was doubtful that the newly-crowned champion could put to rest their rivalry in an immediate rematch.
“Israel (Adesanya) has to inflict more pain and damage on this man (Sean Strickland),” Bareman said. “And what that’s going to mean is we have to find a way to do it and minimize how much harm we kind of put in front of them. … You’re going to see a real good fight, an intriguing rematch against a great opponent and a great time.”
“Realistically, end of the year, start of next year,” He explained. “I said one week because that was me eluding to, I think the game plan is still there. It still exists. I think that there’s some mental things there that we can quickly adjust in a week and then get back in there, and we could see a completely different fight. Whether Sean’s able to impose those mental blocks that he put on Israel, I don’t know if he’ll be able to do that again.”