Israel Adesanya has said he has “moved on” from the prospect of a rematch with Sean Strickland, as he looks to book his next UFC fight.
Adesanya, widely considered one of the greatest middleweights of all time, last fought in February, when he suffered an upset TKO loss to Nassourdine Imavov.
With that, Adesanya fell to a third straight defeat, as Imavov emulated Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis in beating the Nigerian-born New Zealander.
The first of those losses, to Strickland in 2023, marked the end of Adesanya’s second reign as middleweight champion and remains one of the most-surprising results in UFC history. Adesanya was beaten by the American on all three scorecards.
In 2024, Du Plessis ended Strickland’s reign before retaining the title in a grudge match with Adesanya – before doing the same in a rematch with Strickland this February.
This August, however, Khamzat Chimaev dominated Du Plessis to become the newest champion at 185lb, while a rematch between Adesanya and Strickland seemed to make sense – as a means of either man working his way back towards the title picture. Yet Adesanya seems to have dismissed that match-up, acknowledging that Strickland, 34, has been quiet on the matter.
“I’m not surprised,” the 36-year-old told Submission Radio on Friday (26 September). “If you want to get something done right, do it right the first time. That’s the lesson I learned.
“He’s doing other things in his own life, you know, he’s made the money he wanted to make. But again, me as well, I don’t want to be waiting around. I’ve moved on, I just want to fight. So, we’ll see.”
While Strickland and Adesanya’s respective next moves are unclear, so is Chimaev’s first challenger.
The Russian has been linked to Imavov, who built on his stoppage of Adesanya with a points win over Caio Borralho this month; however, it is thought that Reinier de Ridder could earn a title shot if he beats Brendan Allen emphatically in October.
“RDR”, a former two-weight champion in One, has gone 4-0 since debuting in the UFC in November. After scoring three stoppage wins in a row, including against the highly-touted Bo Nickal, he most recently won a narrow decision against ex-champion Robert Whittaker.
When the Dutchman faces America’s Allen, the latter will be filling in for compatriot Anthony Hernandez, who withdrew due to injury.
