Israel Adesanya Loses Middleweight Title (See Details)

Sean Strickland dropped and nearly finished Israel Adesanya late in the first round of their middleweight title fight Sunday in Sydney, Australia, in the main event of UFC 293.

Strickland then went on to score one of the biggest upsets in UFC history by winning a unanimous decision over Adesanya largely by defusing Adesanya’s offense. It was a jab and a right hand and a great defense that led Strickland to the win.

Judges scored it 49-46 on all cards for Strickland. Yahoo Sports had it 49-46 for Strickland, giving Adesanya only the second round.

“You guys, you know Izzy is a bad mother f***er, you guys,” Strickland said in the cage after the decision was announced. “You don’t fight that guy with how many highlight-reel knockout? He’s beaten the majority of my friends [and] he’s beaten them pretty easily. And man, I was even down on myself at times, but I’ve got to thank the fans of Australia. You guys motivated me.”

A blistering straight right hand dropped Adesanya hard late in the first round. Strickland was on top of him immediately and firing away, but referee Marc Goddard gave Adesanya a lot of leeway, and he survived the round.

But Strickland continually marched forward, kept his guard up and never allowed Adesanya to get untracked.

When the bout ended, Strickland shouted at Adesanya and then raised his arms and sprinted around the cage in celebration.

Strickland, who is often loud, crude and outrageous, was humble in victory, but he had plenty of reason to gloat. He was one of the biggest underdogs ever to win in a UFC title fight and Adesanya closed as a -675 favourite.

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