Sean Strickland shocked the world when he beat Israel Adesanya on the scorecards last year to win the UFC middleweight title, and after watching the former champ lose to Dricus du Plessis on Saturday night it’s only further cemented his opinion that ‘The last Stylebender’ is overrated.
“I have an unpopular opinion,” Strickland said on the ‘Verse Us with Eric Nicksick’ podcast. “You guys aren’t going to like it. I just don’t think Izzy’s that good.
“So when he fought Kelvin – and I think Kelvin sucks – everyone is like, ‘Oh, Izzy is this and that.’ Dude, I’ve sparred Kelvin so many times.
“I’m like, ‘You kind of had a close fight with Kelvin. You’re not that f*cking good.’ Like, you’re not that f*cking good. You fought f*cking (Paulo) Costa, and Costa was scared sh*tless of you. You f*cking blew on him, he fell sleep.
“Izzy is just not that f*cking good.”
Strickland may be being a little selective there with his examples given that the Gastelum fight was over five years ago, and the fact that in addition to Costa he also beat the likes of Alex Pereira, Robert Whittaker (x2), Yoel Romero, Marvin Vettori (x2), Anderson Silva, Jared Cannonier and more over the years.
Still, there is a case to be made that Adesanya is no longer operating at the level he once was after losing three of his last four fights. That being said, Strickland’s comments may yet motivate Adesanya to try to get a rematch with him in an attempt to make him eat his words.
He might have to wait a while though as Dana White recently indicated that Strickland is likely to be next in line to face du Plessis after losing the belt to him by split-decision in January.
