There's one dream Israel Adesanya is yet to achieve in his UFC career and he hopes to do so against Sean Strickland
There are few landmarks Israel Adesanya hasn't achieved throughout his glorious career featuring seven title wins and a fairytale revenge storyline. The UFC middleweight champion was somewhat perplexed when he was recently asked what else he would like to achieve before hanging up his gloves.
After some thought 'The Last Stylebender' decided that he wants to score one submission victory, the one feat that has eluded him so far. Adesanya even hinted that he might lap one up when he puts his strap on the line against Sean Strickland at UFC 293 next weekend.
Israel Adesanya believes Strickland might grant him the opportunity for a submission as grappling would be the most obvious gameplan for the Xtreme Couture representative. While Strickland had bizarrely chosen to strike against Alex Pereira, resulting in a brutal KO, Adesanya believes his opponent won't repeat the same mistake. The 34-year-old recently told Aaron Bronsteter:
"Submission. Definitely want a submission. Might be this fight. I know he's gonna wrestle. It'd be dumb not to. So I know he's gonna try mix it up. He's doing this whole thing, man dance, man dance, he's gonna crotch sniff, that's what he's gonna do...He's got smart coaches and they will definitely beat it into him."
Sean Strickland understands the importance of grappling going into UFC 293 clash against Israel Adesanya, claims coach
Sean Strickland looked almost clueless when he chose to stand and trade against an elite kickboxer like Alex Pereira at UFC 276 last year. The KO that followed went on to provide fodder for memes for several months after.
Strickland to his credit was game enough to have a laugh about it and even went on to train with 'Poatan' instead of letting it take a toll on his mental health. But the laughs aside, Strickland's coach Erick Nicksick believes his fighter understands the importance of grappling better going into the UFC 293 clash against Israel Adesanya. Nicksick recently told James Lynch:
"I think honestly he understands that too James like he gets it. He trusts in our kind of through processes as well, it's been a lot of trial and error. We always joke about the Alex Pereira fight like when he was walking out and hitting the tunnel, he looks back and he's like all right let me know when it's halfway, it's like that wasn't the plan bro, shoot right away so we joke about that stuff but in all seriousness, he does have to get into some wrestling."
Catch Nicksick's comments below: