The UFC continues its current roadshow in Sydney, Australia this Saturday, with UFC 293: Adesanya vs. Strickland offering a middleweight title fight — just not the one most fans wanted.
Adesanya is not booked into a grudge match with Dricus Du Plessis, because of the short turnaround time between fights for the South African. Instead, “The Last Stylebender” will take on Sean Strickland, in a somewhat less than inspiring match-up. At the risk of performing some MMA math calculations, Strickland was flatlined by Adesanya rival Alex Pereira, and lost to another of Adesanya’s former opponents, Jared Cannonier, as well.
If ample time had passed since those fights, with Strickland showing formidable growth, an argument might be made for a title shot. Neither of those things has come to pass, however, instead, this is a stop-gap solution due to a lack of viable contenders to fight Izzy in his second run as middleweight champ.
In the co-main event, Australian heavyweight Tai Tuivasa returns against Russian Alexander “Drago” Volkov, a towering opponent who like Tuivasa is ranked among the best big men in the world. But unlike Tuivasa, he’s won two straight, whereas “Bam Bam” has lost back-to-back fights.
The UFC 293 weigh-ins go down this Friday — full results can be found below!
UFC 293: Adesanya vs. Strickland Weigh-In Results
Main card
Middleweight: Israel Adesanya (c) (184.8) vs. Sean Strickland (184.9) — for the UFC middleweight championship
Heavyweight: Tai Tuivasa (265.6) vs. Alexander Volkov (262.9)
Flyweight: Manel Kape (126) vs. Felipe dos Santos (125.4)
Heavyweight: Justin Tafa (265.2) vs. Austen Lane (242.3)
Light Heavyweight: Tyson Pedro (205.45) vs. Anton Turkalj (205.35)
Preliminary card
Light Heavyweight: Carlos Ulberg (204.7) vs. Jung Da-un (205.3)
Featherweight: Jack Jenkins (145.85) vs. Chepe Mariscal (145.85)
Lightweight: Jamie Mullarkey (155.35) vs. John Makdessi (155.1)
Lightweight: Nasrat Haqparast (155.85) vs. Landon Quiñones (155.75)
Early preliminary card
Welterweight: Mike Mathetha (170.25) vs. Charlie Radtke (170.3)
Featherweight: Shane Young (149.75)* vs. Gabriel Miranda (144.95)
Welterweight: Kevin Jousset (170.5) vs. Kiefer Crosbie (170.85)
Middleweight: Jared Cannonier (184.85) — main event back-up fighter
* Young missed weight by 3.75lbs for his fight with Gabriel Miranda, will forfeit 30% of his fight purse to his opponent.
