‘Unexplainable’ Sean Strickland loss likely to haunt Israel Adesanya forever, admits beloved coach

Israel Adesanya's head coach, Eugene Bareman says 'The Last Stylebender's loss to Sean Strickland was worse than loss to Dricus Du Plessis.

‘Unexplainable’ Sean Strickland loss likely to haunt Israel Adesanya forever, admits beloved coach

Coach speaks on Israel Adesanya's loss to Sean Strickland (Image via Imago)

Dricus Du Plessis recently defeated Israel Adesanya at UFC 305. However, head coach Eugene Bareman is not as upset about this loss as he was when ‘The Last Stylebender’ lost to Sean Strickland. Here is what happened:

Israel Adesanya‘s coach, Eugene Bareman, recently sat down for a conversation on the “Who The Fook Are These Guys?” podcast. There he explained why Israel’s loss to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305 was easier to accept than his previous loss to Sean Strickland. 

The Strickland loss, he’ll never get over. You just fought badly, and it was unexplainable. It’s intangible. It’s not measurable what caused it... Any loss is hard, but trust me this one’s a lot easier to take than the Strickland one.
Eugene Bareman on the “Who The Fook Are These Guys?” podcast

Bareman pointed out that Adesanya’s defeat to Du Plessis was due to fatigue, something that is understandable given the pressure Du Plessis applied. In contrast, the loss to Strickland was much harder to swallow because it was “unexplainable” and felt more like a poor performance rather than being outclassed by a better opponent.

Israel Adesanya’s loss to Sean Strickland last year was a significant upset in the UFC middleweight division. Strickland won the fight by unanimous decision, successfully neutralizing Adesanya’s typical offensive style. With that win, he became the new UFC middleweight champion before losing it to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 293.

MMA analyst reveals why Israel Adesanya lost to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305

MMA analyst Luke Thomas recently talked about Israel Adesanya’s loss to Dricus Du Plessis on his YouTube channel. Thomas described his take saying that Adesanya adhered to the “Khabib Model” which brought him significant success. However, it also made him vulnerable as the competition in the middleweight division grew stronger and more diverse in skill sets.

Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya at UFC 305
Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 (Image via X)

According to Thomas, this model involves mastering one aspect of MMA—similar to how Khabib Nurmagomedov dominated with his grappling—while being less developed in other areas. Thomas suggested that Adesanya, known for his exceptional striking, failed to evolve other facets of his game, such as grappling and submission techniques. 

He is the second best middleweight of all time... He got pretty far. But could argue had there been a little bit of more development and weaponisation of the ground game... If his wrestling had gotten really good, what could that have done.
Luke Thomas on his YouTube channel

This limited his ability to adapt against a well-rounded opponent like Du Plessis. Thomas contrasted this with the “Islam Makhachev Model,” where a fighter is more well-rounded across all areas of MMA. It will be interesting to see what lies ahead for the two-time middleweight champion and if fans get to see the Kiwi pay more attention to his grappling in his coming fights.

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