"The same things I give Israel sh** about" - Israel Adesanya's coach gets honest on Sean Strickland's comments on 'painted nails'
Israel Adesanya's coach Eugene Bareman has weighed in on the trash talk from contender Sean Strickland.
The UFC announced earlier this week that Adesanya will defend the middleweight title against Strickland in the main event of UFC 293 in Sydney, Australia. Dricus du Plessis had been expected to be the opponent for 'The Last Stylebender', but the South African ruled himself out of a quick turnaround after his last fight at UFC 290.
'Tarzan' will head into the bout on a two-fight winning run, earning himself a Performance of the Night bonus in his latest victory against Abusupiyan Magomedov. Meanwhile, it will be the Nigerian-New Zealander's first title defense since reclaiming the belt from Alex Pereira at UFC 287.
During a recent interview with Submission Radio ahead of the fight, Eugene Bareman was asked about Strickland's trash talk to Adesanya. 'Tarzan' often takes aim at the 34-year-old's love for anime or his painted nails.
The award-winning City Kickboxing head coach admitted he finds Strickland's trash talk often funny, and revealed that he also gives the middleweight champion some stick. Bareman said:
"Israel Adesanya is solid. He's mentally solid. Nothing can ever shake that person. Nobody can get in his head. And then he has the team and myself to make sure he doesn't stray from his usual mindset."
He added:
"In terms of Sean, I don't know too much of what he's said. I'll be honest, the few things I've heard about Sean, they make me laugh. They're the same things I give Israel sh*t about, like the painted nails."
Catch Bareman's comments here (15:45):
Israel Adesanya defends Cory Sandhagen vs. Rob Font after crowd boos
Israel Adesanya had some strong words for the UFC Nashville crowd after loud boos were heard during the main event between Cory Sandhagen and Rob Font.
Sandhagen dominated the fight across the five rounds, adopting a wrestling-heavy approach to neutralize any threat from Font. 'Sandman' later had his hand raised via unanimous decision, winning every round on all the scorecards.
Reacting to the fight on his YouTube channel, Adesanya was visibly angry when he heard the wave of boos from the crowd. 'The Last Stylebender' admitted it "p*ssed" him off before stating it was because they were drunk. He said:
"They're drunk. Always pi*ses me off. Even if I'm there, it's like 'Boo,' I'm like 'Shut the f*** up.' Like, in Japan, they never used to... whenever, like, this happened, they'd be real respectful. After the fight they're like [claps]. Different culture."
Catch Israel Adesanya's reaction here (6:00):