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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight king and current color commentator, Michael Bisping, has some unique insight in UFC 293’s main event, which saw Sean Strickland shock Israel Adesanya and steal his throne via five-round unanimous decision (watch highlights). Bisping has been watching Adesanya’s UFC career since its genesis, and he also has experience sparring with Strickland over the years. He’s been keeping an eye on his former division, to say the least.
According to “The Count,” attitude may have been a considerable part of Adesanya and his team’s issues. Even after getting knocked down, Bisping didn’t notice any shift in urgency or seriousness from the Adesanya or his City Kickboxing corner.
‘The Rematch Will Be The End Of That Story’
“There was certainly an air of arrogance in the corner of Israel Adesanya and from Izzy himself,” Bisping said on TNT Sports’ Fight Week (via MMA Junkie). “Even when he was dropped in the first round and very, very close to being finished, he had kind of a smug look on his face like, ‘God bless this guy, he landed a shot. Overhand? OK, no worries.’ No concern, no look of stress, no worry, no realization that he’s in there with a real threat.”
Cage position was also an important part of the narrative. Bisping believes Adesanya struggled so much because he was too intent on counter fighting and unwilling to stand his ground to throw volume. As a result, he wound up on the fence, where he absorbed most of his heaviest shots.
“The reason he almost got the finish in Round 1 was because Izzy was moving backward, and Izzy relies on a lot of fast footwork,” Bisping said. “When you’ve backed up all the way to the fence, there’s no further to move back and you can’t even lean back as far and that was his own demise.
