Sean Strickland dropped and nearly finished Israel Adesanya late in the first round of their middleweight title fight Sunday in Sydney, Australia, in the main event of UFC 293.
The two biggest upsets in UFC history were Holly Holm knocking out Ronda Rousey for the women’s bantamweight title and Matt Serra finishing Georges St-Pierre for the welterweight belt. St-Pierre avenged his loss and took the title back from Serra, but Rousey never won another fight and retired after being finished in 48 seconds by Amanda Nunes.
Strickland then went on to score one of the biggest upsets in UFC history by winning a unanimous decision over Adesanya largely by defusing Adesanya’s offense. It was a jab and a right hand and a great defense that led Strickland to the win.
Judges scored it 49-46 on all cards for Strickland. Yahoo Sports had it 49-46 for Strickland, giving Adesanya only the second round.
A blistering straight right hand dropped Adesanya hard late in the first round. Strickland was on top of him immediately and firing away, but referee Marc Goddard gave Adesanya a lot of leeway, and he survived the round.
But Strickland continually marched forward, kept his guard up and never allowed Adesanya to get untracked.
When the bout ended, Strickland shouted at Adesanya and then raised his arms and sprinted around the cage in celebration.
Strickland, who is often loud, crude and outrageous, was humble in victory, but he had plenty of reason to gloat. He was one of the biggest underdogs ever to win in a UFC title fight and Adesanya closed as a -675 favorite.
