Daniel Cormier doesn’t believe Israel Adesanya should receive an immediate rematch against Sean Strickland following their title fight at UFC 293.
Adesanya (24-3 MMA) and Strickland (28-5 MMA) collided for the promotion’s undisputed middleweight championship in the headliner of last night’s pay-per-view event in Sydney, Australia.
The highly anticipated matchup resulted in a massive upset, as Strickland was able to get the better of Adesanya for most of the fight, earning a lopsided unanimous decision victory (49-46 x3).
During last night’s post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White stated that he was “absolutely” interested in booking an immediate rematch between Strickland and Adesanya.
“I think you do the rematch, absolutely,” White said. “The rematch is interesting. That could be the thing, too. When you think about, you’re going into the [Alex] Pereira fight, such a big fight, and you’ve been in there with this guy so many times, and then you overlook Strickland. You come in and I don’t know. I don’t know the answers to these questions, but Israel does, and I’m looking forward to hearing it.”
Like many fight fans, former UFC ‘champ champ’ Daniel Cormier is not onboard with Dana White’s idea of giving Israel Adesanya another immediate rematch.
‘DC’ shared the following thoughts during last night’s post-fight UFC 293 pay-per-view broadcast.
“The last time Izzy lost, all we could speak about was he should be next again. I don’t think that this time. I don’t think he should fight for a belt next. I don’t think he should get an automatic rematch. I think the division needs to move on a little bit.”
Daniel Cormier continued (h/t MMAJunkie):
“It’s like a brand-new world, right? Like The Little Mermaid – a whole new world. Sean Strickland now opens up the possibility of so many fresh matchups. Cannonier just weighed in also and has a victory over Sean Strickland. But I’ve got to imagine Dricus Du Plessis will be the next guy, especially after being the one that was supposed to be here tonight. I’ll tell you, he’s kicking himself in South Africa right now, because if there was a time to get Adesanya, tonight was the night. There was a lot that goes into this fight, and Sean Strickland did what he was supposed to do. But I figure Du Plessis, unless Khamzat Chimaev just completely wipes out Paulo Costa.”
Izzy has gone just 4-3 over his past seven Octagon appearances, suffering losses to Jan Blachowicz, Alex Pereira and now Sean Strickland during that stretch.
Do you think Israel Adesanya warrants an immediate rematch against Sean Strickland following UFC 293?
