Adesanya reveals fight to get Sydney title defence booked

By Christopher Reive

Israel Adesanya has finally locked in an opponent to challenge for his UFC middleweight title at UFC 293 in Sydney next month, but it’s a booking the Kiwi champion had to fight to secure.

Everything seemed to be falling into place perfectly for the promotion after South African Dricus du Plessis beat Robert Whittaker in early July to establish himself as the No 1 contender of the middleweight division.

It was a new name to challenge Adesanya, and a level of animosity had already been established between the two after du Plessis made comments suggesting Nigerian-born Adesanya wasn’t a truly African champion because he lives in New Zealand. The two even faced off inside the octagon after du Plessis’ win over Whittaker.

However, the South African did not take the opportunity to challenge for the title at UFC 293, with reports suggesting he wanted time off to address some injury concerns.

Despite it being no secret Adesanya was being targeted to headline the Sydney card, it left UFC 293 without a main event until this week – just four weeks out – when the promotion confirmed outspoken American Sean Strickland, ranked No 5 in the division, would be the man to step up to the plate.

Strickland is coming off an impressive second-round TKO win, and is the only athlete ranked in the top five – aside from du Plessis – who Adesanya has not already beaten.

However, Adesanya has revealed the UFC took “a lot” of convincing before actually putting the fight together.

“He’s an idiot, and the UFC don’t want him embarrassing the company,” Adesanya said of Strickland.

“That’s all I’ll say about that, but he should thank me. He should really thank me for actually making him get the fight. I pushed for it and I’m glad the UFC trusted me and listened to me.”

It was a welcome announcement for fans, as tickets for the event went on sale without a main event having been announced. There were plenty of good bouts books for the card – all of which featured an athlete from either Australia or New Zealand – however in most cases it’s the main event that tips fans one way or the other.

While the UFC would have had contingency plans in place, it was important to Adesanya that the card be headlined by an athlete from the Oceania region and with the only other titleholder from Downunder – featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski – currently injured, the Kiwi champion made sure he would be performing.

“Even myself; I’ve spent over six figures on tickets myself for the people from this gym, my friends and family. I’ve already invested into it feeling like I was going to fight,” Adesanya said.

“I was hearing rumblings from the fans like ‘Are you going to fight? I’m only coming if you’re fighting’, but I just assured them ‘don’t worry, I’ll make this happen’. We did the work behind the scenes and we made it happen.”

Adesanya will be one of six athletes who train at Auckland’s City Kickboxing gym to compete on the card, with teammates Kai Kara-France, Carlos Ulberg, Tyson Pedro, Shane Young and Blood Diamond, while Kiwi heavyweight Justin Tafa will also be in action.

Confirmed card for UFC 293 in Sydney

Middleweight title fight: Israel Adesanya (NZ) v Sean Strickland
Flyweight: Kai Kara-France (NZ) v Manel Kape
Light heavyweight: Carlos Ulberg (NZ) v Da Woon Jung
Featherweight: Shane Young (NZ) v Gabriel Miranda
Welterweight: Blood Diamond (NZ) v Charles Radtke
Heavyweight: Justin Tafa (NZ) v Austen Lane
Light heavyweight: Tyson Pedro (Aus) v Anton Turkalj
Heavyweight: Tai Tuivasa (Aus) v Alexander Volkov
Featherweight: Jack Jenkins (Aus) v Chepe Mariscal
Lightweight: Jamie Mullarkey (Aus) v John Makdessi

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission