Ben Askren was impressed with Sean Strickland’s title win, but doesn’t see it as the biggest upset ever.
Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) was a big underdog against middleweight champion Israel Adesanya (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) this past Saturday at UFC 293, and was ably to defy the odds with a definitive unanimous decision win.
Magic happened in Sydney 100 pay-per-views ago when Holly Holm knocked out then undefeated bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey at UFC 193. Strickland had a massive moment of his own, but Askren doesn’t think it surpasses Holm’s win.
“I don’t think this one tops Holly Holm over Ronda Rousey as the biggest upset of all time, and I think from a betting standpoint, that pencils also. (That fight was) also in Australia,” Askren said on Funky & The Champ. “I would look foolish, which happens sometimes, because I said, ‘I don’t see how Sean Strickland’s going to win.’
“I thought Sean Strickland was going to do what Sean Strickland did, which is try to walk him down and box him up. I thought there’s no way he’s going to do that for 25 minutes without getting clipped because Izzy’s got a lot of weapons. The fact that he would be able to do it for 25 minutes straight and not get clipped was so impressive.”
The narrative was that Strickland needed to mix his grappling in to have a chance against Adesanya. But Strickland didn’t even shoot once, and even knocked Adesanya down late in Round 1. He outstruck him over the course of 25 minutes.
“It was so impressive because Izzy’s tricky, he’s fast, he’s got a lot of tools – and Strickland shut everything down,” Askren said.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 293.
