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Whittaker not surprised Australian crowd supported Strickland against Adesanya
Many within the MMA world were surprised to see the adulation Sean Strickland garnered from the Australian fans throughout UFC 293 fight week. Despite fighting in supposed enemy territory against New Zealand resident Israel Adesanya, Strickland was greeted by support seemingly everywhere he went, and at times even appeared to be the crowd favorite ahead of his UFC 293 title stunner in Sydney.
Australian and former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, however, was not surprised to see the contract between the crowd’s love for the American and Adesanya.
“No, I would’ve been surprised the other way,” Whittaker said on The MMA Hour, laughing.
“I don’t know, and everybody knows I’m not friends with Izzy. I don’t hate the guy, but I’m not friends with him by any means. We just rub each other the wrong way. And he seems to rub a lot of people the wrong way. And I’m going to say, Sean, you know, he was wearing the [Crocodile Dundee] hat. He was wearing the hat. That’s something. Maybe that’s all it takes.”
“Everyone has done silly things, you know? I guess Sean’s been, I think, very offensive to a lot of people right? But not to us [in Australia] yet,” Whittaker added with another chuckle. “Maybe we’ve been out of the crosshairs a little bit, so maybe that played a role. But another thing is, like, the fans and the guys that showed up on Sunday [at UFC 293], they like seeing hard fights and they like seeing good fights. Sean went out there and gave his all and had one of the biggest upsets in the middleweight division.”
Strickland not only won the crowd’s affection, he also captured the UFC middleweight title in stunning fashion, dominating Adesanya from bell to bell over 25 minutes to pull off one of the most shocking UFC upsets in recent memory. The result flipped the 185-pound division on its head overnight, breathing new life into the title hopes for a variety of former Adesanya opponents, including Whittaker.
The result also scuttled, at least for now, a rivalry between Adesanya and South African contender Dricus Du Plessis that appeared to have all the makings of a memorable — if ugly — showdown, one that revolved largely around the two middleweights’ disagreements regarding their rights to claim themselves as African-born UFC fighters.
