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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 10: Israel Adesanya of New Zealand stands in his corner prior to his middleweight bout against Anderson Silva of Brazil during the UFC 234 at Rod Laver Arena on February 10, 2019 in the Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 10: Israel Adesanya of New Zealand stands in his corner prior to his middleweight bout against Anderson Silva of Brazil during the UFC 234 at Rod Laver Arena on February 10, 2019 in the Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
UFC middleweight Sean Strickland has a talent for grabbing attention for the wrong reasons. The outspoken star has caught the eye of the industry with his outrageous statements several times. His controversial opinions come from a place of being ruthlessly brazen but it has worked well for him and has gotten him quite a bit of attention. Strickland recently won his UFC fight against Abus Magomedov at UFC Vegas 76 and called for a title shot. However, UFC 290 seems to have foiled his plans.
Dricus Du Plessis, who has a nasty feud going on with middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, recently defeated Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 to secure a title shot. Adesanya welcomed the challenge with open arms after a heated face-off in the cage at the PPV. Strickland, who is also eyeing a title shot, made a few comments about Adesanya and Du Plessis’s war of words on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ podcast.
Strickland rips Israel Adesanya over ‘racial’ beef with Du Plessis
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UFC commentator Joe Rogan recently hosted Sean Strickland on JRE MMA Show #143. Sean Strickland, candid as he is, started talking about the UFC, Du Plessis, Adesanya, and more.
When the two started talking about the beef between Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis over ‘real African heritage’, Strickland had a thing or two to say about the middleweight champion.
“The character of Izzy is so… so low.”, started Strickland. Talking about his past, Strickland continued, “I’m an expert on like s**tty people, right? And Izzy man, trynna…I mean the thing there with Dricus. Remember when he got all mad at Dricus because he… Dricus talked about being African. Like… motherf****r, you aren’t African. You are Chinese. You’re worse, quote-for-quote.“.
Talking about a potential match against Israel Adesanya, Strickland said, “If I ever fight Izzy you guys, I’m gonna go get a little Chinese flag… I’ll bring it to the ring for you guys…”- referencing the controversial incident where Adesanya called himself ‘Chinese’ after draping the Chinese flag around his shoulders. But will Strickland ever get to fight the champion?
Will Strickland’s next fight be for the title?
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Israel Adesanya’s UFC middleweight record is as impressive as they come, but Strickland’s resume is no joke either. He is 27-5-0 and is desperate to get a title shot against Adesanya. When ‘Stylebender’ started beefing with Dricus Du Plessis, Strickland was busy preparing for Abus Magomedov.
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 31: Sean Strickland reacts after his victory over Jack Marshman of Wales in a middleweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 31, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)|GettyImages
Adesanya has his work cut out for him in Dricus Du Plessis. If Adesanya defeats ‘Stillknocks’, it could open the door for Strickland, as ‘Izzy’ will have cleared out the top five.
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Do you think Adesanya will get past Du Plessis? Will we see him defend the title against Strickland after that? Let us know in the comments.
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