Israel Adesanya claims Dricus Du Plessis is out and Sean Strickland is in, but that doesn’t seem to be 100 percent done.
Strickland (27-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) said on Thursday that he’s in talks with the UFC about being the next challenger to Adesanya’s UFC middleweight belt, but that they have yet to reach an official agreement. Strickland is definitely interested in fighting Adesanya at UFC 293 on Sept. 9, but under one condition: More money.
“We’re in talks,” Strickland told Helen Yee. “Like I said, it just comes down to just f*cking pay me. Let me ask you guys, do we really want to watch Dricus and Izzy fight? No. We don’t want to watch Dricus and Izzy fight. You want to watch me fight. Am I going to win? I don’t know, but I’m going to go in there and punch that motherf*cking Chinese right in the face.”
The Nigerian champion claimed Du Plessis turned down the title fight due to a foot injury, thus making Strickland next for the belt. Du Plessis or the UFC has yet to comment on the matter.
The booking between the two was never official anyway, but they were expected to fight on the upcoming Australian pay-per-view after Du Plessis stopped former champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 290.
Strickland addressed Du Plessis’ alleged concerns of not wanting to take the fight, but doesn’t identify with his standing.
“I don’t think Dricus is that good, I think Izzy beats Dricus, (but) I understand Dricus,” Strickland said. “Dricus, I understand you, Dricus. It is very natural to just fight, and I just fought like a week before you, and then be like, ‘Hey, you want to fly across the world to fight a guy on seven weeks notice?.’ It is very natural to say, ‘I might not want to do that.’
“But I’m a f*kcing man, and I’m not a f*cking p*ssy. If you pay, I have a price. You pay me money, and I’ll f*cking fight him right here. So you know, unlike Dricus, who’s a smarter man, the true African that he is, I am not. You f*cking pay me, and I’ll fight right here.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 293.
