UFC 293 is in the books, and most of us haven’t picked our jaws back up off the floor yet.
No one predicted a dominant performance by Sean Strickland that would dethrone Israel Adesanya. Few predicted “The Last Stylebender” to be dethroned at all; Adesanya was a heavy favorite, with Strickland a 7 to 1 underdog with some oddsmakers.
But Strickland set the tone early in the fight, knocking Adesanya down at the end of the opening round. Adesanya rallied back to win the second, but from there, it was Strickland backing Adesanya up, leading the fight and doing the so-called “man dance” to the best of his considerable ability.
For his efforts, Strickland will take home one of two Performance of the Night bonuses on the card, despite going the distance in the fight. The other big winner was Justin Tafa, who knocked out Austen Lane in a rematch of the pair’s Jacksonville, Florida fight earlier this year.
Fight of the Night at UFC 293 went to a heated flyweight affair between Manel Kape and newcomer Felipe dos Santos. Just weeks ago, dos Santos was a hopeful on the Contender Series, but with his fight falling through and Kape’s original opponent Kai Kara-France pulling out of UFC 293, dos Santos got to jump straight to the main roster. In the end, Kape came away with the win, and fired off an explosive, profane post-fight speech aimed directly at Kara-France, who was in attendance and threw up double middle fingers in response.
All four fighters will pocket an extra $50,000 for their efforts. Attendance at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia was 18,168 — with UFC President Dana White listing that as a sellout.
