Sean Strickland believes he’s found out the key to victory over Israel Adesanya.
Strickland is set to face Uriah Hall in the main event of UFC on ESPN 28 this Saturday, a week earlier than when the pair were originally supposed to meet at UFC 265.
The rising middleweight contender spoke to LowKick MMA’s James Lynch about the matchup. Strickland said that while a win over Hall puts him in a better position in the division, he still has his eyes on the bigger prize.
“Yeah, no doubt man. You beat Uriah, it puts you one or two fights from a title shot,” Strickland said. “I’m stoked, but again, I don’t really give a f— about that. I always like to say Uriah Hall is the off-brand Adesanya. If you can’t beat Uriah, you’re not going to beat Adesanya.”
As for how a fight between Adesanya and himself would play out, Strickland feels that the key is to not get too pretty against the champion. He thinks that the only way to beat Adesanya is to make it a dog fight and put him in positions where he is less comfortable.
“Adesanya, he’s one of the best strikers in the f—ing world, man,” he said. “He’s another guy that its like, you’re not going to go and outpoint Adesanya. You’re not going to go and out strike Adesanya. You have to go out there and f—ing fight him. Same with Uriah Hall. I’m not going to go out there and play tag with Uriah Hall. If I’m going to do that, he’s going to catch me. I’m going to go in there and fight Uriah Hall. I’m going to go in there and fight Adesanya.”
Strickland has been hot since joining the middle ranks in October 2020. He’s reeled off 3 consecutive wins over Jack Marshman, Brendan Allen and Krzysztof Jotko. An impressive win over Hall would surely have him knocking on the door to contendership, and we could find out just how effective his strategy against Adesanya will be.
How do you think Sean Strickland would fare against Israel Adesanya? Let us know!