“Should’ve listened to me when I told you,” Israel Adesanya reacts to Sean Strickland’s brutal KO loss days after UFC 276

Israel Adesanya definitely must’ve had the last laugh when he saw his fellow middleweight Sean Strickland losing to Adesanya’s arch-nemesis from kickboxing, Alex Pereira, but that doesn’t change the fact how much he wanted the Strickland fight in his resume. Adesanya, UFC’s middleweight champion, last fought in the main event of UFC 276 when he won a unanimous decision against Jared Cannonier, therefore defending his title for the fifth time.

On the same fight card, formerly #4 ranked middleweight Sean Strickland lost his fight via knockout in the opening round against former simultaneous 2-division GLORY Kickboxing champion Alex Pereira. Strickland has since reacted to the loss through a couple of videos on Instagram and has vowed to come back while acknowledging he was deluded to think the fight was going his way and showing gratitude for his fans.

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Israel Adesanya compares Sean Strickland to an annoying backbencher in a class

Now Adesanya has some business with Pereira as the latter is most likely to head as the next challenger for the 185 lbs title. Pereira has a couple of wins over Adesanya already from the days of kickboxing, so this is the first time they will fight inside an Octagon, but the third time they will compete against each other. But on his Youtube channel, Adesanya uploaded an interview post-UFC 276 talking about many things, including Strickland’s loss to Pereira, here’s what “THE LAST STYLEBENDER” had to say.

“He should’ve listened to me when I told him, ‘Just focus on the guy you have in front of you, not me.’ He was trying to be like that idiot in the back of the class. I hated having to address that idiot. Like, I’m trying to f*cking work and the guy I’m focused on is next to me or down the line and this idiot, this dumbass in the back of the class just disrupting. I was like, ‘Yo, it’s not me you need to worry about. Focus on this guy. He thought he had the opportunity, and I’m like, ‘OK, bet.’ If he actually did what he had to do, me and him would be fighting next.” [h/t MMA Junkie]

What do you make of Adesanya subtly warning Strickland of Pereira during the pre-fight press conference? Do you think Adesanya should’ve fought Strickland before being destined to fight Pereira? When styles make a fight, who do you think would be a tougher opponent for Adesanya out of Strickland and Pereira, provided we keep aside Strickland’s loss to Pereira for a moment? Where do you put Adesanya amongst the pound-for-pound best UFC fighters currently?

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