5 biggest winners from UFC 293: Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland

Last night saw UFC 293 go down from Sydney, Australia, and in the end, the event turned out to be a memorable one.

Three of the five main card bouts at UFC 293 ended in finishes, while the headline bout saw one of the biggest upsets in recent memory.

So who were the biggest winners from last night’s event? It’s fair to say that newly crowned middleweight champ Sean Strickland was one of them.

Here are the five biggest winners from UFC 293: Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland.

#5. Manel Kape – defeated Felipe dos Santos in a UFC flyweight bout

Manel Kape edged out Felipe dos Santos in a thriller [Image Credit: @ufc on Instagram]

One fighter who was expected to win handily last night was Manel Kape. Initially pegged to face former flyweight title contender Kai Kara-France, he instead found himself against newcomer Felipe dos Santos.

In the knowledge that an explosive win would probably be enough to net him, at worst, an eliminator bout for a shot at the gold in his own right, ‘Starboy’ performed excellently.

Sure, he didn’t pick up the stoppage he’d have liked, largely because dos Santos proved to be much tougher than anyone could’ve expected, even absorbing a first-round knockdown.

The fight, in fact, proved to be so entertaining overall that it was handed the ‘Fight of the Night’ award, earning both men a $50k bonus.

In the end, though, it was clear that Kape was the winner, and his victory was his fourth in a row in the UFC. Hopefully, the promotion can put the Kara-France fight together again, and if he can win that, it’d be hard to deny him a title shot.

#4. Tyson Pedro – defeated Anton Turkalj in a UFC light-heavyweight bout

Tyson Pedro celebrated in style after downing Anton Turkalj [Image Credit: @TYSON_PEDRO on Instagram]

Aussie fighter Tyson Pedro was always a favorite coming into his clash with Anton Turkalj, whose odd nickname – ‘The Pleasure Man’ – seemed to be garnering more attention than his poor UFC record.

However, given that he’d lost his last bout in disappointing fashion, there was still a lot of pressure on Pedro to deliver the goods.

Thankfully, he did so in style, and his nasty finish probably deserved a $50k bonus, too.

The fight lasted just over two minutes before Pedro clocked Turkalj with a one-two, clearly hurting him. Smartly, Pedro didn’t rush in, instead timing his shots to land another clean right before dropping the Swede with another one-two.

From there, the fight was over, as a brutal hammerfist switched off Turkalj’s lights.

Whether Pedro can continue to progress from here and become the title contender he’s threatened to become before remains to be seen. However, this was a fun and violent knockout from him in his home country, so he’s got to be considered a big winner.

#3. Carlos Ulberg – defeated Da Un Jung in a UFC light-heavyweight bout

Carlos Ulberg could be considered a contender at 205lbs [Image Credit: @ufc on Instagram]

While Tyson Pedro picked up a big finish on the main card last night, it’s arguable that the bigger light-heavyweight winner on the night was his teammate Carlos Ulberg.

‘Black Jag’ came into UFC 293 quietly riding a four-fight win streak with all four bouts ending before the final buzzer. Last night saw him matched with his toughest foe yet in Da Un Jung, and yet the Aussie passed the test with flying colors.

He picked the Korean apart on the feet, dropping him in the first round and landing on him with numerous jabs throughout the fight, and then stunned everyone by finishing him with a rear naked choke in the third.

The ending turned out to be a little strange as it appeared that Jung had been saved by the buzzer, but a quick check of the replay showed that he’d actually tapped – handing Ulberg his fifth finish in a row.

At this point, ‘Black Jag’ has to be considered a genuine contender at 205lbs, and it’s time to push him up to the elite level to really test him. There’s no disputing that he was one of last night’s biggest winners.

#2. Alexander Volkov – defeated Tai Tuivasa in a UFC heavyweight bout

Alexander Volkov surprised everyone by submitting Tai Tuivasa last night [Image Credit: @volkov_alex on Instagram]

Last night’s co-main event between Tai Tuivasa and Alexander Volkov was billed as a potential brawl, but in the end, ‘Drago’ played things much smarter, and came away with an impressive win.

Tuivasa came out swinging punches from the start, just as most people expected, but he couldn’t land the big shot that he was after.

Instead, while he landed some effective leg kicks, Volkov was able to catch them on more than one occasion and countered with heavy punches that hurt the Australian.

Tuivasa went down on more than one occasion, and finally, in the second round, ‘Bam Bam’ found himself in trouble as he ate some nasty punches from the top.

From there, though, Volkov did something entirely unexpected. He dropped into full mount, and actually hooked up the ultra-rare Ezekiel choke, eventually tightening it to force Tuivasa to tap out.

Literally, nobody would’ve expected this from ‘Drago’, particularly as it was his first tapout win since 2016. He now sits on a three-fight win streak and might be in position to make a run at the UFC heavyweight title again.

While he didn't claim an extra $50k bonus to his name too, he was definitely one of the night’s big winners.

#1. Sean Strickland – defeated Israel Adesanya to win the UFC middleweight title

Sean Strickland shocked the world by defeating Israel Adesanya [Image Credit: @ufc on Twitter]

The biggest winner at UFC 293 was undoubtedly Sean Strickland. Despite practically everyone writing him off coming in, he somehow managed to pull off one of the biggest upsets in octagon history, edging out Israel Adesanya to claim the middleweight title.

‘Tarzan’ had only been given his shot because top contender Dricus du Plessis was unavailable, and on paper, Adesanya seemed like a horrible match for him.

Remarkably, though, Strickland had a gameplan that worked to perfection. He put more pressure on ‘The Last Stylebender’ than probably any opponent had ever done before, walking him down and landing clean punches from the off.

The high point for ‘Tarzan’ came in the first round, when he knocked Adesanya down and came scarily close to putting him away. When the final buzzer sounded, though, there was no doubt as to who’d won.

Can Strickland hold onto his title against Adesanya in a rematch? Who knows. ‘The Last Stylebender’ may well have taken him lightly coming into this one. Even if he does, whether he can turn back the challenge of some of the other top 185lbers is a fair question too.

For now, though, Strickland is a UFC champion, and nobody can take that away from him. In that sense, he’s one of 2023’s biggest winners as a whole.