Sean Strickland pulled off one of the biggest upsets in UFC history on Saturday night, dominating Israel Adesanya to claim the middleweight championship at UFC 293.

Israel Adesanya has issued his first statement, which was brief, since losing his middleweight title to Sean Strickland at UFC 293.

“Pause. I had a different plan for this, but life throws curve balls at you,” Adesanya said. “Win or lose, I wasn’t going to say much anyway. But right now, I lost tonight to the better man on the night.

“I just want to be with the people that care about me, my team, and they’re waiting for me, so I’m going to do that,” Adesanya said.

Israel Adesanya reflects in an Instagram Post

Being a UFC champion isn't what's all cracked up to be. Yes, you are on top of the world and you are considered the best fighter on planet Earth but the pressure of being the best gets to everyone. Even the best in the world tend to fail and this is now the second time Israel Adesanya has lost his UFC Middleweight Championship. He took to Instagram to reflect on only his second third defeat in his professional MMA career.

In a brief post on Instagram, Adesanya said that he was “still thriving” and that he would be back to reclaim his title.

“I'm still thriving. It's all good. I hate losing, but I love living,” Adesanya wrote. “I'm hanging out with my family first, then I'll address the people. But right now, I got to put me first.”

 

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A post shared by Israel Adesanya (@stylebender)

Israel Adesanya will look to reclaim his title for a second time

Israel Adesanya's MMA record has now dropped to 24-3 and is now just 1-2 over his last three fights. Many put Israel Adesanya in the GOAT category which is where Anderson Silva was until his shocking loss to Chris Weidman. While Adesanya uncharacteristically lost his middleweight championship twice in his last three fights he is still considered one of the best fighters in the entire organization.

Dana White has already made it clear that he wants an immediate rematch between Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland. If Adesanya were to reclaim the middleweight championship, he would be the first-ever to be a three-time champion in the UFC. That is a lot easier said than done when he has Strickland standing across from him inside the octagon. Many thought this was going to be one of the easier title defenses for Israel Adesanya but Strickland posed a threat to him that no one else was able to do.

Strickland gave Adesanya no respect on the feet and just pressured him for the entire 25 minutes in relentless fashion. That pressure broke Adesanya and Strickland almost knocked him out in the very first round but it was just pure domination from start to finish. It was the most impressive performance of Strickland's career while looking like the worst defeat of Adesanya's. With that said, if we know anything about Adesanya it's that he will be hungry and willing to get back in there to reclaim what he believes is rightfully his.