Sean Strickland can beat a UFC superstar to become champion. We spoke with his training partner from Russia

They will fight at UFC 293 on September 9 in Sydney. About the champion Israel Adesanya we have written several times, and if you have opened this text, you have certainly heard something about him.

A natural athlete who transitioned from dancing to kickboxing at school age, Adesanya came to MMA with a complete zero in wrestling, but his poison striking technique, charisma and lack of elite fighters among his opponents made of Adesanya a dominant UFC champion. At middleweight (up to 84 kg) he defeated someone twice, defeated someone by humiliating him after the fight and recently completed the best story with his participation: he knocked out the man who had knocked him out twice. Adesanya knocked out Brazilian Alex Pereira and left himself with almost no interesting opponents.

But the problem with all champions is that challengers attack you faster than you can defeat them. While Adesanya fought everyone, Sean Strickland closed out two losses with two wins against fighters from Dagestan (who moved to Europe), which was enough for Sean to be hired as a replacement in the title fight. Initially, Adesanya was supposed to fight Drikus Du Plessis from South Africa, but he was injured and 32-year-old Strickland came to Sydney.

It is not difficult to understand Sean’s type if you have watched American films in such a highly intellectual genre as “action comedy”. Strickland arrives at a press conference in a cowboy hat, works out with fans, and when he meets a UFC employee with the title “regional director,” he says, “Are you a regional director ?! ” Wow! Wow!”

Sean’s two previous opponents burned out because they didn’t understand how he boxed. But his Vegas sparring partner, UFC fighter Denis Tyululin, explains it very well: Strickland is calm in a fight, not afraid of getting knocked out, and his relaxed attitude coupled with good reflexes makes his style terrible for his opponents. He works his body a lot, strikes very unexpectedly and sharply, dodges and is constantly in front of you, threatening to attack.

“What do you think of Strickland’s chances, other than knowing each other?”

– We have friendly relations with him – we recently wrote off, I wished him good luck. I believe his victory is real.

Of course, Adesanya is an extremely difficult opponent. I think he is very mentally strong. Pereira knocked him down three times (once Pereira beat Adesanya by decision. – rating), but Adesanya finally knocked out the Brazilian. Many said it was impossible to rehabilitate immediately after a defeat and cited Kamaru Usman and others as an example. I thought so too, but Adesanya was an exception. In battle, he does not let you approach him and moves – all these advantages are obvious. But, in my opinion, Sean is an extremely troublesome opponent. You have to fight it, chop it and crush it. It seems to me that Strickland will push, defend and “break through” if possible, and Israel will push. But Adesanya would be uncomfortable hitting him. Sean is very functional, doesn’t expend a lot of energy and breathes the same on the first and fifth lap. Yes, maybe he fought with non-supertops, but with the same Hermansson he calmly spent five rounds.

– Who would Strickland look like among those you fought with in Russia?

– Not for anyone. He has a very specific technique. He works in an unconventional way and defends himself. I watched his interview, where he talked about the mouthguard, which showed that there was little missing in sparring. There is some truth in that. This is also seen in fights – he lets you approach him or presses him himself, makes movements with his hands and head. It’s hard to adjust to him, especially if you only hit him with your hands.

—Did you understand that during the first fight with him?

– Yes. I found some flaws, but they are difficult to implement. It seems to me that you have to fight him, so there is a chance. Push it and try to score. I would do it this way. It’s very specific and impractical.

– You said you met him once. How quickly did this happen after you arrived in Vegas?

– Immediately. He loves Russians, not just Slavs, but Russia in general. He has gigabytes of training sessions with me, Magomed Ankalaev, Muslim Salikhov, Maxim Grishin, but he doesn’t publish them. Maybe even Seryoga Spivak worked with him. Seryoga generally assisted me in the fights, and the Americans assisted Shauna.

Sean has pretty stiff feet. Given Adesanya’s kickboxing, do you think Israel’s chances are to throw hard low kicks?

— Of course, there will be low kicks. I think they dismantled Strickland during the camp. I can’t say that low kicks are a serious hole in Strickland, but they are. Stuffing a leg, a shin is real, because just hitting it with your hands is impractical.

—What did you do while training with him?

– Struggle. I strike as standard – through the hand, towards, at point blank range.

—Have you ever had difficulty training with him?

– I do not think so. Maybe he hooked me, I don’t remember clearly. But I had workouts where I fell face down. In the school where I trained, this is a normal subject.

– Can you imagine that after Strickland’s blow, Adesanya will fall into a dull knockout or be beaten?

—Strickland exactly [замучивает], stuffs you. No such topic exists – bam and it’s gone. It doesn’t invest in punches, hence the functionality. In the fight where he beat Abusupyan Magomedov, there were a number of strikes. Adesanya is like him in that regard.

– If they prick each other, then whoever breaks first will lose. Do you think Strickland can be mentally broken in a fight?

‘I can’t say, because fighting is not training. You might not like the way the sparring went: a few rounds didn’t work, you move on to the next slow one. In combat, a different mode.

There are fights when you see that a fighter is beaten simply because he gave up and does not want to defend himself. And it happens that a person falls after the first blow and closes. The boys say, “He shit himself,” and in the locker room you find that his orbital bone was broken. I don’t know how it will go in the fight between Strickland and Adesanya. Judging by the speeches of Israel, it cannot have such a thing. He motivates himself between rounds as well as during them.

— Adesanya suffered a loss to Blachowicz in another weight class, and they simply beat him there. Is Strickland fighting?

— He has a good grip, but he has a problem with translations. Whether there is a fight or not, you have to watch him in battle. They tell me that too [про борьбу] – go practice. Well come to the gym and fight with me. Rinat Fakhretdinov cannot lie to me. But other things happen in combat.

Sean struggles a lot in training, but you don’t see that in fights. I thought there would be a fight with Hermansson, but Strickland didn’t provoke. We suggested: “Well, fight,” he stood near the cage and calmly defended himself. He fights all the time in training. Albert Duraev arrives – Sean calls: “Oh, let’s fight.”

—During the fight, did he ever take you down?

– No. I did that to him, he countered or swept. His attempts were in vain. He participated in grappling tournaments in the United States several times and even defeated someone. He is comfortable with ground wrestling. There is no translation, but it can get stuck against the wall. When Khamzat or Albert Duraev come to Xtreme Couture, they work with him.

— How much does Strickland weigh in training and how much will he weigh in combat?

“It weighs about a hundred, but it’s water.” You start to hold back a little – already 96 kg, creatine removed – already 94. But I also don’t think Adesanya is super big – I saw it at the cut. Brazilians probably lift exorbitant amounts of weight. And so… Roma Dolidze is huge for 84 years old, just a cyborg. I don’t know how he drives. I always ask him how he does it. Maybe his bones are light. The others are shorter – Marvin Vettori is short, Robert Whittaker, Joaquin Buckley – I wouldn’t say any of them are very tall.

— Let’s finalize: how will the battle unfold and who will win?

— Difficult fight stylistically. I think it will be boring. I treat Sean very well – we correspond, I comment on the stupid things he says. But I don’t think there will be a fight. There will be punches and low blows. If Adesanya decides to apply, like he said he won’t make it, Shawn has a good fight for that.

—What do you correspond with Strickland about?

— The last time I wrote to him: Let’s go. He tags me on something [ерунде]responds to my stories and asks me when I will arrive.

Live broadcasts of the Mixed Martial Arts tournaments can be seen on and Match! Fighter”, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.