Caio Borralho doesn’t see a rematch between former UFC middleweight champions Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya going too differently.
After three straight losses, Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) wants to run things back with Strickland, who dethroned him in a stunning upset title win at UFC 293. Strickland (29-7 MMA, 16-7 UFC) was able to hurt Adesanya early en route to a unanimous decision win.
If Adesanya does get his wish, top contender Borralho doesn’t see him avenging that loss.
“To be honest, I see it the same way, because Strickland – styles make fights, and Strickland is a guy that pressures a lot, and Izzy doesn’t like to get pressured too much,” Borralho told Submission Radio. “He moves a lot, moves very good in the octagon, but he needs the guy to throw with everything if the guy is pressuring him. But Sean Strickland doesn’t throw everything. He touches. Maybe it could be different, but I think it’s going to be the same thing.
“Strickland is going to be marching forward, Izzy is going to try to guess which punch is coming with power, and then there will be no power, and then he’s going to be a little bit confused. He’s going to get touched a lot, and I think Strickland wins again. Not the Strickland that showed up against Dricus (Du Plessis), because that Strickland was not the Strickland that I know. So if Strickland really shows up to fight like he did the first time with Izzy, he wins this fight.”
Adesanya went on to drop two more fights to UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305, followed by a TKO loss to Nassourdine Imavov in the UFC Fight Night 250 headliner in February.
