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Controversial fighter Sean Strickland stunned the mixed martial arts world by pulling off one of the biggest upsets in UFC history by winning the middleweight crown from Israel Adesanya via unanimous decision.
The three judges scored it 49-46 for the American, who clearly won the first round by dropping his opponent.
Strickland survived something of a comeback from Adesanya in the second, then took the remaining stanzas of the contest with a brilliant effort that saw him continually pressure his rival and land big shots.
The new world champion was overcome with emotion in the octagon after the decision was announced and told the crowd: “Am I fucking dreaming?” Will I wake up? Someone hit me !
“I don’t cry a lot but I’m trying to keep my shit together right now.”
Strickland lands one of several clean shots on Adesanya in what will go down as one of the biggest flubs seen inside the octagon.
The American won every round except the second, and dropped his opponent with a double in the first round, stunning the crowd and commentators.
Commentator and former world heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier was also stunned by the result.
“It was a mountain he wasn’t supposed to climb. He wasn’t even supposed to be in that fight,” he said, referring to the fact that Strickland was a late replacement for the injured Dricus du Plessis.
‘It’s crazy. This is why this sport is unlike any other. You don’t know, you just don’t know.
“It was very clear and all the judges understood it well. It was four rounds to one for Sean Strickland, and he beat one of the greatest middleweights of all time.
Adesanya was too emotional to say more than two sentences during his post-fight press conference, telling the media: “Life throws you curveballs,” before letting his trainer Eugene Bareman answer questions.
Strickland made his intentions very clear in the early rounds, shocking the crowd by leveling Adesanya with a clean one-two, then following up his devastating right with a series of left hands as his opponent barely managed to see the end of the round .
Strickland was overcome with emotion after the victory as he admitted he had self-doubt ahead of the fight with the man considered one of the best fighters on the planet.
Towards the end of the final round, Strickland was so confident and dominant that he started yelling at Adesanya to throw down with him.
The Nigeria-born, New Zealand-based former champion found his feet in the second half and appeared to master Strickland’s relentless pressure, landing a big right hand shortly before the bell.
However, the American came back strongly in the third, with Adesanya looking too patient as he lost the initiative and failed to land his shots while taking several huge blows.
It was much of the same in the fourth and fifth rounds as Strickland wore down his opponent with non-stop pressure, and even dropped his hands and roared at Adesanya to step up and lunge with him in the final moments of the fight.
Strickland had insulted Adesanya – often in unprintable ways – before their clash, but he looked uncharacteristically stylish after winning the belt in what is easily the biggest victory of his career.
He also thanked the Australian spectators, who gave him more support than his opponent, despite his Kiwi origin.
Adesanya might be fighting from neighboring New Zealand, but the Australian crowd was behind Strickland in Sydney – with the new champion thanking them for motivating him during the fight.
He had insulted Adesanya at every opportunity before the fight, often in unprintable ways, but Strickland was all class once he had the belt around his waist.
“You know, Izzy is a bad motherfucker,” he told the crowd.
“You don’t fight a guy with that many highlight-reel knockouts.
“The majority of my friends, he gets beaten pretty easily. Sometimes I even doubted myself.
“But I have to say, you Australian fans motivated me. I’m not even kidding.
“When I walked in there and I heard you screaming, in the fourth round I heard you screaming. It fueled me.
“I thought I would come away a little bloody, a little broken. I’m a little shocked that didn’t happen.
Several MMA stars were shocked by the underdog’s victory.
‘Wow! Didn’t see this coming,” Dricus du Plessis posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
He was joined by Dustin Poirier, who wrote: “Amazing…MMA is the craziest sport in the world. IF**the king likes it.’
Bareman refused to make excuses for the loss, admitting that his charge performed poorly as he said he did not want to detract from Strickland’s stellar performance.