05 September 2023 , 14:10
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Israel Adesanya has declared he wants to land the first submission of his UFC career against Sean Strickland when the pair square off in Sydney this weekend.
The middleweight champion has had five successful defences and won three further world title fights, but they all came by either decision or knockout. In his entire MMA career he has yet to make an opponent tap out, but he feels that with the amount of wrestling that Strickland will use he may get the opportunity.
Adesanya and his challenger have a tumultuous relationship dating back to a verbal altercation at the press conference for UFC 276 when the American faced Alex Pereira. The press conference ended up being less about the champion defence against Jared Cannonier and Strickland's bout with Pereira and more to do with their brewing rivalry.
And he clearly holds that grudge through, telling TSN when asked about what he wants to accomplish before he retires: "Submission. I definitely want a submission. Might be this fight. I know he's going to wrestle. It'd be dumb not to. So I know he's gonna try mix it up.
Strickland ended up being viciously knocked out in the first round by Pereira, who went on to win the middleweight title from Adesanya a few months later. They ended up rematching for the belt in a major Miami pay-per-view, while Strickland has had to earn his way to the top in hastily thrown-together shows without fans at the UFC Apex.
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"He's doing this whole thing, man dance, man dance, he's going to crotch sniff, that's what he's going to do," Adesanya continued. "He's got smart coaches and they will definitely beat it into him. I know he'll have talked about 'I'm crushing it I want to box' but you really think he's going to box with me?
"The Pereira fight I called it, I told him focus on your f***ing job because he'll knock you out and what did he f***ing do? Knocked him out because he wasn't focused on his job, he was focused on me. So he's going to crotch sniff, but I get down too so it's whatever."