Brendan Allen offers to step in and face Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 in Sydney

Israel Adesanya may have an opponent for the highly anticipated UFC 293 event in Sydney. No. 11-ranked middleweight contender Brendan Allen recently called out the middleweight champion and offered to face Adesanya in case he didn’t have an opponent for the September card. 

Ambiguity surrounds the Nigerian-born Kiwi’s opponent for the Sydney card, where Israel Adesanya is expected to make his next outing. After Dricus Du Plessis’ incredible win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 291, he was touted to be Adesanya’s next challenge. However, an injury forced ‘Stillknocks’ out of that matchup, and the middleweight champion subsequently turned his attention to Sean Strickland. 

Unfortunately, it seems the UFC isn’t keen on ‘Tarzan’ fighting Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 in Sydney. The No.6-ranked middleweight vented his frustration on Twitter and revealed that the promotion may have other plans. 

In light of the uncertainty surrounding Israel Adesanya’s next opponent, Brendan Allen recently offered to step in and face ‘The Last Stylebender’ in September. He tweeted:

“Not sure what the hold-up is but if you need someone to fight @stylebender, I’ll fly to Sydney and take that belt off your hands! Money, training, time, etc no problem. You probably got bigger things but if you just need a fight have your ppl call my ppl.” 

Israel Adesanya blasts Sean Strickland for making a fuss about fighting on “5-weeks” notice 

There is no love lost between Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland. 

It’s no secret that the two middleweights aren’t on cordial terms and have fired nasty verbal shots at each other on several occasions. Their rivalry recently intensified after ‘Tarzan’ asked for a title shot against ‘The Last Stylebender’ and made jokes about Adesanya’s “Chinese” heritage. 

While Sean Strickland was believed to be the next in line for middleweight gold, he recently hinted that the UFC doesn’t want to make that fight for September. Reminding everyone of his cooperative behavior as an employee of the promotion, he tweeted:

“UFC history: Sean fight this good guy on a 2-day notice. “Sure”… Sean fight this guy we want to be the next big name in the top 5 if he beats you. “Sure”… Sean we might have you fly across the world on a 5-week notice to fight the Chinese Champion. “Sure”…. LMAO………”

Israel Adesanya wasn’t impressed with Strickland’s complaining and fired back:

“Lol “5 weeks”. You been training since your last fight. We both fighting on short notice, you’re not doing nothing special, you dirty c**t.”