Israel Adesanya won’t rule out upset win for Sean Strickland over Khamzat Chimaev

Israel Adesanya wouldn’t be surprised if Sean Strickland can pull of a big upset over Khamzat Chimaev.

Strickland will challenge Chimaev for the middleweight title on May 9 in the UFC 328 main event in Newark. While some felt Nassourdine Imavov would be the rightful No. 1 contender, Strickland leapfrogged the competition with his second-round TKO finish over Anthony Hernandez at UFC Houston back in February.

Adesanya was the victim of Strickland’s biggest upset to date. Strickland scored a unanimous decision victory over “The Last Stylebender” back in 2023 in a shocking turn of events.

Speaking to Brian Campbell for UFC on Paramount+, Adesanya said that he can see Strickland scoring another upset as long as he has an answer for the grappling of “Borz.”

“I think he can if it goes to the later rounds and he doesn’t get taken down,” Adesanya said. “But again, Chimaev is a bat out of hell. He’s a guy that comes aggressively straight away and Strickland could match that probably, but we’ll see. They trained together, so there’s probably something that happened in the gym that we are not privy to. That’ll be interesting, but I look forward to watching it and reacting to it on YouTube.”

Adesanya has his own bout coming up on Saturday. He’ll share the Octagon with Joe Pyfer in the main event of UFC Seattle. The former two-time UFC Middleweight Champion has lost three fights in a row.

“The Last Stylebender” has said his focus when it comes to fighting is now just about having fun. Time will tell if this new approach will benefit him as he enters a bout with Pyfer, who is riding a three-fight winning streak.

Do you think Sean Strickland can avoid Khamzat Chimaev’s grappling enough to do damage? Let us know what you think in the comments below.