Eric Nicksick explains why Israel Adesanya told him he "saved Sean's life" following UFC 293 loss to Sean Strickland
Israel Adesanya's loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 took many fans by surprise.
'Tarzan' entered the cage as a +450 underdog, with few people giving him a chance of overcoming the challenge of 'The Last Stylebender'. But Strickland not only won, he dominated the fight from start to finish and even dropped Israel Adesanya with a right hand in the first round.
He became the first man to knock Adesanya down in the UFC, as well as the second middleweight fighter to defeat 'The Last Stylebender' in MMA. Sean Strickland's coach, Eric Nicksick, has now revealed what Adesanya told him following UFC 293.
According to the Xtreme Couture head coach, Israel Adesanya said the following:
"There were some things that I saw that Sean was doing that I felt [Israel Adesanya] was setting him up for. And, man it was actually kind of a cool moment, I had a good talk with Izzy after the fight was over in the back. And Izzy came up to me, and he's like, 'You saved that man's life'. And I was like, 'Oh yeah, how so?' And he goes, 'You kept calling out my reads.' And I was like, 'Yeah, 'cause I saw what you were setting up.'"
Nicksick continued:
"One of the things, was the southpaw drop step... Izzy orthodox, drop steps into southpaw. He would throw his southpaw cross at Sean's right hand. And Sean would parry it like this. And I yelled at Sean, 'Bro he's gonna same side head kick you. It's gonna come right behind it.' I yelled it out, and Izzy heard it."
Watch the video below from 21:45:
Dana White recants on Sean Strickland vs. Israel Adesanya immediate rematch
Dana White now appears less certain that Israel Adesanya will be granted an immediate rematch following his loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293.
Following the conclusion last weekend's pay-per-view card, White spoke to the media, during which he stated that he would "absolutely" scheduled the rematch.
However, following the Dana White's Contender Series (DWCS) episode this week, the UFC CEO appeared to have somewhat changed his mind. He appeared in front of the media following the DWCS and said this:
"I saw the stupid f***king s**t that was written by all these stupid f***ing websites, never once did I say, 'Yes we're gonna f***ing do this rematch.' We'll see what happens, there's obviously lots of options out there."
Watch the video below from 8:10: