Sydney, Australia – The UFC middleweight king Israel Adesanya has returned to Australia to fight, and he brought a friend along as he’ll defend the title against Sean Strickland at UFC 293 on Saturday night.
“I got him his first passport. I got him his first flight out of his country. I got him his big money fight so he should be really grateful after this. He should be really grateful for the opportunity,” Adesanya told reporters on Wednesday.
“He’s talking all this sh*t, it’s whatever, but like he should really be grateful because I’m changing his life for the better.”
Strickland showed up to fight week with the usual antics, jokes, brash talk, not really taking anything serious, but Adesanya isn’t making the mistake of taking him lightly. He knows he has a very dangerous man standing in front of him at UFC 293 on Saturday night.
“I think that makes him really dangerous. I think that’s what makes him dangerous. He doesn’t care. He knows I’m going to beat him so he doesn’t care. He’s going to try and do his best to beat me by any means necessary,” he said.
“A man with nothing to lose and everything to gain is a dangerous man.”
Earlier in the day Strickland had told reporters that he had been wrestling a lot in camp for the fight, but that he wasn’t sure he would use it. He said he might choose to stand with Adesanya.
“He did say he’s a better striker than me so I welcome him to try. I think his team is too smart. This is different. This is not a regular fight. He wants this,” Adesanya said pointing to the UFC belt placed in front of him.
“He wants that. I think he’s going to wrestle, and I got something for his ass because me and my buddy Craig Jones been hanging out. A lot.”
“Sean fights guys and looks good against them because they let him look good against them. They let him get in their head,” Adesanya said.
“But again…I’ve done this how many times? This is deja vu to me. All this sh*ts semi-fun, but what I really want to do is just fight. I really want to fight and showcase and also watch my team showcase before me.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Israel Adesanya above. He defends the middleweight title against Sean Strickland at UFC 293 on Saturday night in Australia.
