Sean Strickland stuns Israel Adesanya to win UFC middleweight title - ESPN

The greatest upset in UFC middleweight title fight history belongs to Sean Strickland.

Strickland (28-5) stunned the mixed martial arts world on Saturday, as he claimed the 185-pound championship in a five-round decision over arguably the greatest middleweight of all time in Israel Adesanya. The middleweight title fight headlined UFC 293 inside Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.

Going into Saturday, the biggest upset in middleweight title fight history belonged to Michael Bisping, who famously knocked out Luke Rockhold in a short-notice fight in 2016. Strickland's victory was far less probable, according to betting odds: He was a +500 underdog to Adesanya, making it the largest betting upset ever in a UFC middleweight title fight (Bisping was +400 against Rockhold).

And the way in which he did it — convincingly, over the course of five rounds — made it even more unbelievable.

«Am I f---ing dreaming?» asked Strickland, who earned 49-46 scores from all three judges. «Am I going to wake up? Somebody hit me. Literally, never in a million years did I think I was going to be here.

»Izzy is a bad mother f---er. You don't fight a guy with that many highlight-reel KOs. The majority of my friends, he's beat pretty easy. I was even doubting myself."

Adesanya was making the first defense of his second reign as middleweight champion. He regained the 185-pound belt in April with a knockout of Alex Pereira.

UFC president Dana White said he «absolutely» thinks a Strickland-Adesanya rematch is in order.

«The rematch is interesting,» White said. «That could be the thing, too. You go into the Pereira fight, it's such a big fight, and then you overlook Strickland? I don't know the answers to these questions, but Israel does and I'm looking forward