Sydney, Australia – When it comes to press conferences and media days nobody really compares to UFC middleweight Sean Strickland who will challenge for the title held by Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 on Saturday night.
Strickland (27-5) said he doesn’t feel like he’s fighting in enemy territory because he doesn’t think that Australians actually like Adesanya.
“You think the Australians want the ‘China man’ to win? They don’t want the f*ckin ‘China Man’ to win. Nobody likes f*cking Izzy. Izzy’s a f*cking cringe lord,” Strickland told reporters on Wednesday.
That may have been the lightest banter against Adesanya that Strickland offered during the interview. He went off from there.
“Izzy as a man sucks. Izzy as a man sucks,” Strickland said.
Many believe the UFC did not want Strickland in the title fight, but the champion insisted he be next in line.
“I would probably like Izzy. I’m sure he’s a nice enough guy, you know, thank you Izzy. Thank you for the paycheck sir. I can’t wait to fight you,” he said.
“Just makes me laugh man I think I run my mouth so much people forget that I can fight.”
The game plan that most believe will work against Adesanya is a wrestling-heavy attack from Strickland. Whether or not that’s actually in the game plan we’ll see on Saturday, but don’t be surprised if Strickland chooses to stand with Adesanya.
“I’ve been wrestling my ass off, but I also wrestled my ass off with Alex (Pereira). Problem is, you get in there and your d*ck gets a little bit hard, next thing you know you’re going to turn into a boxing match. Maybe I’m going to try to be a complete MMA fighter, but no promises. No promises,” he said.
Now in the title fight at UFC 293 on Saturday night Strickland will face one of the best fighters to ever walk the planet. It’s not lost on him, but at the end of the day, it’s just a fight to the American.
“You guys….it’s all bullsh*t man. It’s all f*cking bullsh*t. I’m in it to get a check. It means so much to me but it’s a f*cking piece of metal. I’m in it for the paycheck. I love this sh*t. Having a piece of metal around my waist doesn’t define me. Doesn’t make me who I am,” Strickland said.
“It doesn’t make me f*cking happy. It would be nice but at the end of the day it’s just a fight. It’s just fun.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Sean Strickland above. He challenges Israel Adesanya for the UFC middleweight title at UFC 293 on Saturday night.
