SYDNEY, September 10 – Underdog Sean Strickland surprised Israel Adesanya and won the UFC middleweight title on Sunday in Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena, winning by unanimous decision on the judges' scorecards after an enthralling five-round battle.
Strickland, an American, taunted Adesanya in the last seconds of the final round, confident of victory after 25 minutes of stalking, guarding excellently, and forcing Adesanya to fight off the back foot.
Adesanya, who has ruled the roost as middleweight champion for the majority of the last four years, was caught many times by stiff jabs from Strickland, slowing him down.
"Oh my God, I literally never thought I'd be here," Strickland exclaimed in the cage as UFC president Dana White made the championship belt around his waist.
.@SStricklandMMA at a loss for words after becoming the undisputed champ 👏 #UFC293 pic.twitter.com/K52vxmLsL1
— UFC (@ufc) September 10, 2023
The crowd praised the new champion for his brave performance after giving him a nasty welcome on his approach to the cage and cheering for Adesanya, who grew up in adjacent New Zealand, throughout.
"The majority of my friends he's beaten pretty easily, so I was even kind of doubting myself, but I've gotta say to the fans, you guys motivated me," Strickland remarked.
Strickland set the tone for victory with a massive right hand at the conclusion of the first round, nearly knocking Adesanya out, and while he made it to the break, he never really got going after that.
The Nigerian-born Adesanya, known for his creative ideas striking, became increasingly frantic as the battle progressed, winning only one of the five rounds, with the three judges scoring the rest to Strickland on identical 49-46 scorecards.
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