Sean Strickland shocked the world on Sunday afternoon in Australia as he dominated Israel Adesanya to become the new UFC middleweight champion.
Strickland, who won 49-46 on all three judges' scorecards, closed as a +500 underdog, the largest title fight upset in UFC middleweight history «I gave up so many brain cells to the MMA gods every day,» Strickland said in a postfight interview. «This is the first time I'm lost for words.» Strickland entered the fight with the best strike defense among active middleweights at 62.4%.
Unofficially, Strickland defended 65% of Adesanya's strikes throughout the five rounds and caused Adesanya to land just 24 of 178 head strike attempts, (14%) according to ESPN Stats & Information.
In the co-main event, Alexander Volkov landed one of the more obscure submissions in MMA history as he executed an Ezekiel choke on Tai Tuivasa to earn a big win in the heavyweight division.