There's certainly no love lost between Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland. The two men are due to face off in the headline fight of UFC 293 on September 10, with Adesanya seeking to defend his middleweight belt. Of course, the pair have traded barbs back and forth in the run-up to the bout. However, it appears that Adesanya is tired of Strickland running his mouth.
"I do wanna shut him up and I'm gonna shut him up. I'm gonna break his jaw if he keeps talkin' to me while he's in there, trust. When you're talkin', you never know when a shot's coming, the jab can hit you while your mouth open and send your jaw to the back of your head," Adesanya told TMZ. "[Sean] should just thank me. He got his passport, he got the fight, he gets to travel out of the country for the first time, actually see the world instead of being a fucking hillbilly and yeah, he should thank me. Should really appreciate the fact that I got him the opportunity and he's gonna get paid, he can buy his boat and then he can fuck off and make other opportunities," he continued.
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Adesanya Headlines UFC's Return To Australia
UFC 293 is the first event to be held in Australia since 2017. For Adesanya, it will be his seventh title defense fight, but his first since reclaiming the belt at UFC 287. Stylebender briefly lost the belt to Alex Periera at UFC 281 in 2022 but won it back in the rematch in April of this year. However, Strickland wasn't the first choice for this fight. Adesanya was meant to fight Dricus du Plessis, the South African fighter that he has been publicly beefing with for most of this year. However, with du Plessis injured, the fifth-ranked Strickland was subbed in.
"Do I think he deserves it? I think he's been in there long enough to earn it. To step in there with me, my ego says no. My ego says we're levels above. He knows it. I know but he knows he still has a chance of winning this fight. I just have to make sure it's the minimalist chance ever. That's my job. "I know he's dangerous because a man with everything to gain and nothing to lose is a fucking dangerous man but I have a habit of making dangerous men look easy," Adesanya said when asked if Strickland deserved the title shot.
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