Israel Adesanya explains why he would never consider sparring with “rotten apple” Sean Strickland: “He’s got many screws loose”

UFC middleweight king Israel Adesanya has explained why he wouldn’t consider sparring with Sean Strickland.

This Saturday night in Las Vegas, Israel Adesanya will defend his UFC middleweight championship when he goes head to head with Jared Cannonier. In addition to that, the main card will also feature a bout that promises to be a barnburner as Sean Strickland and Alex Pereira attempt to determine – potentially – the next challenger for the gold.

It’s no secret that Strickland is something of a controversial figure within the division and mixed martial arts as a whole, and during a recent chat with Alex Volkanovski, ‘The Last Stylebender’ gave his thoughts on his divisional rival.

“Sean Strickland, he’s a bad motherf***er. Like, literally bad, (a) rotten apple,” Adesanya said. “His standup, I’ve seen him do more damage on YouTube in sparring than in his fights, put it that way. I’ve seen his sparring footage and I’d never spar with an idiot like that. I’ve hurt people in sparring before and I’m like, ‘Oh s***, my bad,’ and I’ll pull back… But I’ve seen what he does, and he talks s***… He’s got many screws loose.

“Whatever floats your boat, yes. But like, it’s funny to say coming from our sport, but I don’t like to hurt people, even though that’s our job. I like to make sure they’re able to come back the next day to do their work,” Adesanya added. “And also to give me work, because you need your teammates.”

“You get some people who come into the gym with a cape behind their back like they’re about to do some sh*t,” Adesanya said. “People try and like, ‘Ah, this guy, he thinks he’s the man, let me try and put some work on him,’ then I regulate them. You take them out and put them in their place.”

Quotes via MMA News

Will we ever see Israel Adesanya vs Sean Strickland?