UFC 293 Adesanya vs. Strickland Betting Tips: Izzy to end the Sydney main event early
Sydney is the location and Sean Strickland is the opponent for Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya's first title defence following that dramatic reclaiming of the belt from mortal enemy Alex Pereira at UFC 287 in April.
That triumphant return from "The Last Stylebender" will go down as one of the most devastating and memorable knockouts in UFC history. For now, following their two UFC meetings and four-fight history, the bitter rivalry between himself and "Poatan" is done, but maybe that feud could be reignited at light heavyweight should Adesanya grow tired of the unchallenging landscape at 185lbs.
Saying Sean Strickland is the guy to dethrone him seems a big stretch, and so does the idea of him posing any real threat to his belt either. It's funny how the mixed martial arts game works: one minute you're getting KO'd by Alex Pereira as part of the undercard for the Adesanya vs Cannonier headliner at UFC 276, and a year later you're taking on the middleweight champ for a shot at gold yourself.
As the odds suggest, the main event in Sydney is likely to be a fairly one-sided matchup. Izzy enters as the 1/6 favourite, while Strickland is available at 4/1 to shake up the middleweight division. The champ's only loss in this weight class came to the Brazilian last November, whereas Sean is 2/2 from his last four fights.
UFC 293 Adesanya vs Strickland Odds
If you read our UFC 292 Sterling vs O'Malley preview, you'll remember we built a case for the underdog and successfully backed him winning that bantamweight title fight. That will not be the case here.
These two are polar opposites in almost every conceivable way: Adesanya is a real student of martial arts; a technically brilliant, spiritual disciplinarian. Strickland, on the other hand, carries a heavy case of nonchalance with him in everything he does and everywhere he goes.
If you are aware of him you'll know it's highly unlikely the American even cares about being in a title fight, let alone winning the belt and having it strapped around his waist following Bruce Buffer's announcement.
His pettiness is about the only motivation he possesses heading into this contest, but that won't be enough to penetrate Adesanya's laser focus.
When all is said and done, Izzy is virtually untouchable at middleweight. The knockout by Alex Pereira can be easily explained away for any numbers of reasons, from Poatan never being a sustainable 185lbs fighter to in many ways the Brazilian having Izzy's number as far as fighting styles are concerned.
Strickland is incredibly sloppy and appears to show no willingness to learn. A low guard is what allowed Alex Pereira to catch him just over a year ago, and despite sparring with his opponent some time after the fight, Sean has continuously made the same mistake in his subsequent contests with Jared Cannonier, Nassourdine Imamov and Abus Magomedov.
Izzy has talked about registering a first submission win on his record, so if we are to believe the champ will wrestle heavy in Sydney against Strickland then choosing this double chance covers both a KO/TKO and sub method of victory as a very generous even money shot.
Quite a few people expect Strickland to cause Izzy a few problems, but we just don't see that happening. Sean Strickland will not win this fight, the contest will not see the final bell and Israel Adesanya is most likely to get the job done via KO/TKO in the first couple of rounds.
We've squeezed a significant amount of extra juice by selecting the second round in this method and round combo.
Strickland wants to try and beat others at their own game, meaning he'll attempt to go toe-to-toe with Izzy on the feet. In tandem with The Last Stylebender's unique and creative striking, he'll inflict damage on Sean's legs as a good manoeuvre to distract him from an eventual knockout blow.
The American was stopped in the very first round of his fight with Poatan following an effortless left hook that set up his title shot with Izzy the following April.
Since entering the UFC back in 2018, Rob Wilkinson, Derek Brunson, Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa have all been stopped by Adesanya in the opening two rounds, with three of those victories coming inside the second.
There's no bonus for the number of rounds fought inside the UFC octagon, so it's within Izzy's best interests to get Strickland out of there early.
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