Former two-time undisputed middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya has backed Sean Strickland after his former opponent engaged in a heated brawl with incoming opponent and UFC 297 headliner, Dricus du Plessis over the weekend at UFC 296, congratulating him on his “sucker punch”.
Adesanya, a former two-time undisputed middleweight champion, has been sidelined since he headlined UFC 293 back in September in Australia, dropping his title in a one-sided unanimous decision loss to Strickland – becoming the first titleholder in Octagon antiquity to lose his championship twice in the space of a year.
Expected to take a long-term hiatus, Adesanya claimed after his loss to Strickland that he may remain sidelined until 2027 at the very earliest, before claiming a potential future at a UFC Fight Night Saudi Arabia event in March may appeal to him.