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Israel Adesanya vs. Dricus Du Plessis will have to wait.
Adesanya is slated to defend his UFC middleweight title on Sept. 10 against Sean Strickland in the main event of UFC 293, which takes place at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, the UFC announced on Tuesday following an initial report by Spinnin Backfist.
Adesanya campaigned to fight Strickland at UFC 293 once it became clear that the division’s No. 1 contender, du Plessis, would be unable to make the date.
Adesanya (24-2) is currently MMA Fighting’s No. 5 ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world. The 34-year-old Nigeria native is a two-time UFC champion who recaptured his middleweight title with a second-round knockout of Alex Pereira in April. Over the course of his first title reign, he racked up five consecutive defenses of his belt from 2019-22, defeating the likes of Robert Whittaker (x2), Marvin Vettori, Paulo Costa, and more.
Strickland (27-5) is MMA Fighting’s No. 9 ranked middleweight in the world. The controversial and outspoken 32-year-old has won back-to-back bouts in respective fights with Nassourdine Imavov and Abusupiyan Magomedov to rebound from defeats at the hands of Pereira and Jared Cannonier, which marked the first two-fight skid of Strickland’s career. He also holds notable UFC wins over Brendan Allen, Jack Hermansson and Uriah Hall.
UFC 293’s main card also includes a heavyweight co-main event, Tai Tuivasa vs. Alexander Volkov, flyweights Kai Kara-France vs. Manel Kape, and a women’s flyweight bout between Viviane Araujo and Jennifer Maia that was recently added to the card.
Here is the current card for UFC 293:
- Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland – FOR UFC MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE
- Tai Tuivasa vs. Alexander Volkov
- Kai Kara-France vs. Manel Kape
- Justin Tafa vs. Austen Lane
- Viviane Araujo vs. Jennifer Maia
- Carlos Ulberg vs. Da Un Jung
- Blood Diamond vs. Charlie Radtke
- Tyson Pedro vs. Anton Turkalj
- Brandon Jenkins vs. Chepe Mariscal
- Shane Young vs. Gabriel Miranda
- Jamie Mullarkey vs. John Makdessi
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