Attempting to make his defense of the middleweight crown as part of his second reign, undisputed division champion, Adesanya most recently landed the title at UFC 287 back in April in Miami, Florida, avenging a UFC 281 title loss to Alex Pereira with a stunning second round KO win over the common-foe.Prior to his knockout win over Brazilian berserker, Pereira back in April of this year, City Kickboxing striker, Adesanya suffered his first professional middleweight loss in mixed martial arts against the Sao Paulo knockout ace back in November of last year at Madison Square Garden.
Israel Adesanya meets Sean Strickland at UFC 293 in September
As for Strickland, the outspoken middleweight contender competes for undisputed gold for the first time in his Octagon tenure, most recently turning in his first stoppage win since 2020 with a second round TKO win over Russian-born upstart, Abusupiyan Magomedov in July at the UFC Apex facility in a main event tilt. UFC president, Dana White confirmed the title fight between Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland on the promotion’s official YouTube channel.
As for Strickland, the number five rated challenger emerged as the leading candidate to fight Nigerian-Kiwi, Adesanya after South African finisher and number one ranked challenger, Dricus du Plessis was unable to overcome an injury suffered before his most recent win over former champion, Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 during International Fight Week back in July.UFC 293 takes place on September 9. from the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia – with Adesanya’s middleweight title fight with Strickland set to take main event honors. An undisputed middleweight title fight between division champion and two-time gold holder, Israel Adesanya and surging number five ranked contender, Sean Strickland, is now officially scheduled to take main event honors at UFC 293 on September 9. from the Qudos Bank Arena from Sydney, Australia.