There were many big fights at UFC 293, but who won the main event between Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland
UFC 293 saw a huge main event between Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title.
Adesanya, who came into the fight after reclaiming the gold from Alex Pereira, started as the favourite for the clash.
The New Zealand star had only lost to Pereira in the Middleweight division during his career, and all signs pointed to him winning the belt.
Strickland only got his chance as Dricus Du Plessis pulled out of the title fight due to an injury a month or so back.
Nevertheless, what fans got to see in the arena turned out to be one of the biggest upsets in UFC history.
Strickland and Adesanya were both cautious initially, but the American was able to land a huge blow to the champion during the final minute of the first round.
Adesanya was able to regather himself and finish the round, but that seemed to have affected him. The champion did perform better in the second round and won that, but the next three rounds all went to Strickland.
Adesanya had no response to Strickland’s tactics, and there was no doubting who was winning the main event at UFC 293.
Strickland became the new middleweight champion, amidst a raucous Australian crowd. Not many would have picked Adesanya to lose this fight, but this goes down as one of the greatest shocks in UFC history.
Who won the other fights at UFC 293?
UFC 293 started with three fights on the early prelim card. Kevin Jousset defeated Kiefer Crosbie to start the show via a rear-naked choke.
The second fight saw Gabriel Miranda beat Shane Young via a similar choke. The third fight went all the way with Charlie Radtke defeating Mike Mathetha.
The prelim card saw Nasrat Haqparast beat Lando Quinones via decision. Jami Mullarkey also beat John Makdessi via a decision, while Chepe Mariscal defeated Jack Jenkins after the latter picked up an arm injury.
The final fight of the prelim card saw Carlos Ulberg beat Jung Da-un.
The main card started with a banger as Tyson Pedro defeated Anton Tukalj via a KO. Justin Tafa defeated Austen Lane with a crazy KO.
Manel Kape got the better of Felipe dos Santos, while Alexander Volkov defeated Tai Tuivasa with a rare Ezekiel choke.
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