08 September 2023 , 13:20
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Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will face off with Sean Strickland in the main event of UFC 293 this weekend as he looks to defend his middleweight title.
Adesanya won back the belt by knocking out Alex Pereira in April and now he looks to get his defence off to a solid start when he headlines the next UFC event which is taking place in Sydney. Adesanya goes into the bout with a record of 24 wins and two losses while his opponent, Sean Strickland, has a record of 27 wins.
In what could make for an interesting evening, American national Strickland has lost two of his last four fights, however he is currently on a two-fight win streak. Strickland's first defeat came about via knockout to Pereira at UFC 276 in July 2022 which was followed by a split-decision loss to Jared Cannonier at Fight Night 216 in December 2022.
However, he beat Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Fight Night 217 in January and Abusupiyan Magomedov at UFC on ESPN in July. Build up to the fight has been controversial with Strickland even claiming he "committed assault" on a fan who told him he would be knocked out by Israel Adesanya this weekend.
This isn't the first time that Strickland has courted controversy. He's been linked to a series of outspoken outbursts in the past, including his insistence that he wanted to kill a Youtube star and it is believed that there was resistance from the UFC hierarchy to bringing him into the UFC 293 main event when original challenger Dricus Du Plessis was ruled out.
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When is UFC 293?
The event is set to take place on Saturday, September 9 at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia. The main card is set to get underway at 3am.
How can I watch it?
The fight will air live on TNT Sports in the UK, with the TNT app and website also streaming the fights. You can subscribe to TNT Sports through discovery+, BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media for £29.99 a month and can sign up to TNT here.
Who is fighitng at UFC 293?
Main card
Israel Adesanya vs Sean Strickland for UFC middleweight title
Tai Tuivasa vs Alexander Volkov
Manel Kape vs Felipe Dos Santos
Justin Tafa vs Austen Lane
Tyson Pedro vs Anton Turkalj
Preliminary card
Carlos Ulberg vs Jung Da-un
Jack Jenkins vs Chepe Mariscal
Jamie Mullarkey vs John Makdessi
Nasrat Haqparast vs Landon Quinones
Early preliminary card
Mike Diamond vs Charlie Radtke
Shane Young vs Gabriel Miranda
Kevin Jousset vs Kieffer Crosbie