Jack Sturdivant
After an action-packed morning of fights in Perth, Australia – fights which included a title-implicating upset at flyweight and a barn-burning lightweight fight of the night – all wrapped up by a highly-anticipated middleweight title grudge match. Now that the fights are all over, the only question to ask is who these fighters should face next.
Dricus du Plessis vs. Winner of Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker/Alex Pereira
After submitting former champion Israel Adesanya in the fourth round and retaining his middleweight belt in a fight – which looked to be largely going the way of the challenger in the later rounds – Dricus du Plessis looks to be poised for super stardom with one more defense.
However, this will be no easy task as two highly-touted middleweights, Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev, enter the octagon in October for a chance at the champion’s head.
While either fighter is no easy test, what is perhaps even more frightening for the champion is his performance caught the attention of the man that they call “Poatan:” former middleweight champion and current light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who posted on Instagram saying he would be moving back down to 185lbs one final time to take on “Still Knocks.”
While Pereira is set to defend his light heavyweight belt against Khalil Rountree, it would be almost impossible to deny him a title shot with a win against Rountree, especially if he wins the fight with a brutal knockout as UFC fans are accustomed to seeing.
Israel Adesanya vs Sean Strickland 2
Although Adesanya didn’t get the result he wanted, he certainly had his moments, especially in the third and fourth rounds.
Adesanya was coming off an almost yearlong layoff entering this fight and showed no signs of ring rust. After winning the belt off Robert Whittaker in 2019, the “stylebender” went on an impressive run as champion stacking up defenses against fighters such as Paulo Costa, Yoel Romero and Jared Cannonier before slipping up against his long-time kickboxing rival Alex Pereira.
Almost immediately after that fight, a rematch between the two rivals was announced. Adesanya knocked Pereira out cold – regaining his throne. He celebrated by acting out the motion of shooting arrows at a still unconscious Pereira, symbolizing him shooting an arrow in the heart of his demon.
At this point, fans thought another long title reign was inevitable, especially when UFC President Dana White announced Adesanya would be defending his title in his backyard of Sydney, Australia against Sean Strickland.
Fans, media and even other fighters criticized Strickland for his sloppy fighting style and strange guard, but these critics would be silenced when Strickland produced a shocking upset over the champion, winning by unanimous decision and even dropping Adesanya late in the first round.
However, in his first defense, Strickland would lose his belt to du Plessis in a close split decision that was given Fight of the Night honors.
Strickland recently picked up a win against Paulo Costa in a lackluster fight which doesn’t look to help his hopes of getting a title rematch in the immediate future in a star-studded middleweight division that already has a couple of number-one-contender fights lined up; The current light heavyweight champion is salivating at the chance to reclaim the glory that was once his and become only the fifth simultaneous two-division champion in UFC history.
If Strickland really wants to put his name back in the ever-deep title contention hat, grabbing another victory over the man he shocked the world against, proving it to be not a fluke, victory would certainly help his cause – and Adesanya would love nothing more than to squander the hopes and dreams of his rival while proving that his lackluster performance was nothing more than a bad night in the office.
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