Israel Adesanya made a short statement following his shocking loss at UFC 293 this past weekend. Adesanya dropped the middleweight title by decision to underdog Sean Strickland. He provided both a post-fight comment and a message on social media in the hours afterwards.
UFC 293: Israel Adesanya Says He Is All Good After Shocking Defeat
Now former two-time UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya provided fans a brief update after his shocking loss to Sean Strickland. The bout headlined the recent UFC 293 event from Australia, as Strickland scored a decision.
“Still thriving, it’s all good,” Adesanya said in a video posted to his social media. “I hate losing but I love living and I’m thriving. I’ll address the people but right now, I’ve got to put me first.”
In the minutes after the loss, Adesanya attended the post-fight press conference but did not answer questions. Instead, he provided a short statement and left the microphone to his head coach, Eugene Bareman.
“I had a different plan for this but again life throws curveballs at you,” Adesanya said (thanks to MMA Fighting for the quotes). “Win or lose, I wasn’t going to say much anyway but right now, I lost tonight to the better man on the night. I just want to go and be with people who care about me – my team and they’re waiting for me so I’m going to do that.
“But I will leave you in the capable hands of a man who is much smarter than me, I’ll admit this on worldwide national media, I’ll leave you with Eugene Bareman. He’ll handle this for the first time. I want to go chill, have some breakfast, build my family and till next time.”
Israel Adesanya: What Is Next?
The 34-year-old from Nigeria has now suffered two surprising defeats for the championship.
The first came last November when he was on his way to a decision win over Alex Pereira when Pereira dropped him. Adesanya rebounded from that loss to win the title back this past April with a second round finish of his own.
Strickland also dropped Adesanya early in this fight, but “The Last Stylebender” survived the onslaught of attacks. He never appeared to be the same after, though, as Strickland countered and defended his usual on-point striking.
Adesanya’s only other loss in mixed martial arts came in 2021 when he moved up to light heavyweight during his first title reign and challenged then-champion Jan Blachowicz. Blachowicz was too much for him that evening, losing by decision.
