Sean Strickland is probably in on the middleweight title picture with Dricus du Plessis pulling out of his UFC 293 title fight against Israel Adesanya. While Strickland believes ‘Stillknocks’ would have lost to Adesanya, he understands why the South African fighter pulled out.
Strickland finds it reasonable that du Plessis might be unwilling to fly to Sydney for a title fight in September after fighting against Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 earlier this month.
However, having fought just a week before Du Plessis, Strickland is willing to step in against Adesanya at UFC 293 for ‘the right price’. The 32-year-old recently told Helen Yee:
“I understand you Dricus. It is very natural just to fight, which I fought just a week before you, and then it’d be like, ‘Hey you wanna fly across the world to fight a guy on seven weeks’ notice’. It’s very natural to say I might not want to do that. But I’m a f***ing man, I’m not a f***ing [expletive]. If you pay me, I have a price. You pay me money, I’ll f***ing fight him right here.”
Catch Sean Strickland’s comments below:
Sean Strickland’s coach saw a short-notice title fight against Israel Adesanya coming
Dricus Du Plessis reportedly backed out of his UFC 293 clash against Israel Adesanya due to a foot injury, paving the way for Sean Strickland to step up for a bid at middleweight gold. Strickland’s head coach at Xtreme Couture, Eric Nicksick, had coincidentally predicted a similar scenario in a recent interview.
Nicksick wanted to keep Sean Strickland in fighting shape at all points as he believed a short-notice opportunity may present itself at any moment. Nicksick said on MMA Junkie’s ‘Spinning Back Clique‘:
“That’s the thing with Sean. My main concern is not him being prepared – just making sure his weight is within striking distance to make that championship, 185-pound limit. Being prepared and being ready for this – it’s very hard to say you’re going to get a short-notice title fight. But it’s one of those situations where you look at the history of this division, guys will be there fight night. The Whittakers and (Yoel) Romeros, and fights get scrapped, that’s why they have backups.”