UFC 293: Du Plessis Injured, Strickland Might Face Adesanya
Sean Strickland is reported to be coming in to face Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 PPV in middleweight title bout with Dracius Du Plessis not ready for the event.
Adesanya and Du Plessis were expected to clash at UFC 293. Du Plessis became the #1 contender at UFC 290 after beating Robert Whittaker at UFC 290. They also had a face-off in the ring at UFC 290 to tease the fight. However, the fight was never confirmed.
Adesanya took to social media on Wednesday to rant against Du Plessis being under the impression that he might not be able to make it to UFC 293 due to a foot injury. Calling his explicit names, Adesanya said that Du Plessis does not have a champion’s mentality. He revealed that his knee was jacked before UFC 287, but he still took the fight.
Adesanya’s thoughts on the developing situation: pic.twitter.com/4IEI0OCDTP
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 20, 2023
Adesanya also said he would be on the card at UFC 293 regardless of Du Plessis being his opponent. He also called out Strickland to be ready for the fight.
Later, Ariel Helwani tweeted that Du Plessis will not be ready to fight at UFC 293 as he was also banged up going into UFC 290. Helwani also added that Israel Adesanya vs Sean Strickland is likely to take place at UFC 293.
Sean Strickland’s coach Eric Nicksick also revealed that they were planning for Strickland to be ready to fight Adesanya, and would even be ready as the backup fighter for the title fight.
If Strickland faces Adesanya at UFC 293, it will be his fourth fight in the last 10 months. He lost a close split decision against Jared Cannonier in a Fight Night headliner in December 2023. As a late replacement 3 weeks later, he defeated Nassourdine Imavov via unanimous decision. He then headlined UFC Vegas 76 to beat Abusupiyan Magomedov via second-round TKO.
