Dana White Talks Sean Strickland As Champion And What Is Next For Israel Adesanya

He gave his thoughts the main event played out, particularly on what seemed like an out-of-character performance from “The Last Stylebender.”

“Israel looked like he was in slow motion. He looked like he couldn't get off. He looked like he was really stiff tonight. He looked very slow… Only Israel knows what's going on. I'm very curious to see what he says at this press conference tonight (Adesanya did not take questions from the media).

“There are a million things that could go wrong. Some days, you wake up and it's just not there, man. He looked bone dry when he came out tonight. Standing up really tall, looked very slow, looked like he couldn't get off at all. Even in the fifth round, when everybody knew he needed a knockout to win the fight, there was no sense of urgency to try to finish the fight.”

On the newly minted middleweight champion, White had nothing but praise for the brash American. 

He joked about what Strickland’s own post-fight press conference might sound like, but he complimentarily called him “one of the nuttiest” in the sport.

“(Strickland) did what he had to do,” White said. “He came (and) he beat the champion four rounds to one. Came into hostile territory, the whole world talking s*** about him the whole world saying he couldn't do it, a 7-to-1 underdog. (He) came in, almost finished (Adesanya) in the first round and won the championship, won the world title. Everything that we're talking about right now about how crazy this sport is, when opportunities arise, you jump on them and you take them. You should never turn down fights when you get the call, especially if it's for a world title.”

Although the fight was Adesanya’s first since recapturing his middleweight title, questions of an immediate rematch arose. 

White, who said he did not speak much to Adeseanya after the fight, believes a rematch between Strickland and Adesanya.

“I think you do the rematch, absolutely,” he said. “When you think about you're going into the Pereira fight, such a big fight, when you've been in there with this guy so many times and then you overlook Strickland and you come in —I don't know the answers to these questions, but Israel does, and I'm looking forward to hearing it.”

Despite Adesanya’s loss, the night was still a big one for the MMA scene in Australia and New Zealand following the success of UFC 284: Makhachev vs Volkanovski in Perth earlier this year. 

White was full of praise when it came to New Zealand’s City Kickboxing, which had six fighters featured on UFC 293, including Adesanya. The team went 3-3 on the night, and it remains well-established as one of the more successful MMA gyms at present.

“It's incredible what that team has done,” White said. If you saw some of the footage leading up to the fight, you know how many people are in that gym training at one time, and they treat Izzy just like they treat everybody else. It's impressive. It's impressive what they've built here.”

White fielded questions on a handful of other questions, which you can read below:

On The Commentary Team, Which Featured Laura Sanko’s Pay-Per-View Debut:

“The commentary team tonight was awesome. They killed it… She's a rockstar man. She's very good at what she does.”