Israel Adesnaya is not phased by Sean Strickland’s trash talk ahead of UFC 293, believing the American is playing up his antics for the press.
At the UFC 293 media day, the middleweight champion said he’s familiar with opponents attempting to intimidate him before fights.
‘All these guys is fugazi. There’s certain people you don’t f**k with because you know its on sight. So, it just feels familiar. Before my UFC debut, I felt this energy before where guys try to be boisterous and “hold me back bro, hold me back bro.” They don’t really want to fight, they just want to act like they want to fight and I know that energy so it’s familiar to me and I love to fight.’
Adesnaya will face Strickland in the main event of UFC 293 this weekend, a bout that was originally expected to be between Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis. When asked about a possible match up with Du Plessis, Adesanya revealed he is looking towards Paulo Costa or Khamzat Chimaev, depending on the outcome of their fight.
‘You can’t sit on your ranking and think you got it locked in…he doesn’t call the shots, I do.’
‘If I decide to, I might decide to give it to whoever wins between Costa and Khamzat.’ Adesanya said.
