If there’s one thing to know about Israel Adesanya, it’s that he always keeps receipts.
The UFC’s reigning middleweight champion rarely misses the opportunity to make someone pay for pre-fight trash talk or even a post-fight celebration where he’s happy to return the favor after getting his revenge. As he prepares to return at UFC 293 in September, Adesanya has heard plenty coming from opponent Sean Strickland with the war of words between them actually dating back to July 2022 during a press conference encounter.
Now that they’re scheduled to fight, Strickland has ramped up his rhetoric where he insulted the “class of champion” that Adesanya represents as a guy who “f****** paints his nails.” Needless to say, Adesanya was paying attention.
“He’s an idiot,” Adesanya told MMA Fighting during an appearance for Stake.com. “I’m not going to lose to an idiot. He says he’s not going to lose to a guy that jerks off to cartoons or paints his nails. Well, I’m going to paint my nails for that fight and I’m going to knock him out with my painted nails.”
Heading into the fight, Adesanya is a heavy favorite to beat Strickland and successfully defend his title but there’s always danger attached to those kinds of odds.
Because Strickland is viewed as such a massive underdog, he essentially has nothing to lose, which means he can throw caution to the wind and do whatever it takes to try and pull off the upset. Meanwhile, Adesanya is expected to win but he promises there will be no shocking headlines coming out of UFC 293 outside of his plans to end the night with an emphatic victory.
“I don’t listen to people [telling me I should win],” Adesanya said. “That’s [how]. I only listen to me and my team and this guy, he’s already pissed me off with his energy. The way he comes across and the way he tries to antagonize me.”
According to Adesanya, he’s had past run ins with Strickland that have also colored his opinion of the always outspoken middleweight contender.
While Strickland is always loud and boisterous whenever there’s a microphone in front of his face, Adesanya says he got a much different impression after they ran into other backstage at a UFC event. Add to that, Adesanya really doesn’t like how Strickland loves to engage in wild training sessions where he’s been caught on video knocking out his sparring partners.
“I don’t like the way he conducts himself,” Adesanya said. “Even his sparring footage will pop up in my feed sometimes and I’m just like what the f***? Who does that? He’s a gym hero. He’s just an idiot and he’s not the kind of person I associate myself with and also he’s fugazi.
“The way he is normally backstage is not the same way when the crowd’s there. When the crowd’s there, he puts on the clown persona and tries to entertain people, which they love and it’s cool, but he’s not the same. I even put a little receipt, just one of them, on a clip I did [running into him] backstage — if you want to have this energy at the press conference, you could have had this energy backstage when I smacked you on the ass. He’s a fake guy.”
Adesanya has heard enough and seen enough of Strickland already that he really wants to add this win to his highlight reel, especially with the post-fight celebration he has planned.
“I’m going to paint my nails and knock him out,” Adesanya said. “That vision right there gets me up. That’s what motivates me because I’ve had that vision of having my nails painted, knocking him out and just showing my nails to the camera like look, with my frosted tips, I knocked his b**** ass out.
“That vision right there, to make that vision come true, I’ve done everything in my power make sure I knock this guy out.”
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