Dana White clarifies stance on Sean Strickland vs. Israel Adesanya rematch, admits 'lots of options'

LAS VEGAS – UFC CEO Dana White won’t 100 percent commit to a Sean Strickland vs. Israel Adesanya rematch.

Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) upset middleweight champion Adesanya (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) by unanimous decision in this past Saturday’s UFC 293 headliner at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. In the post-fight news conference, White said a rematch should be next. But when asked about other contenders such as Dricus Du Plessis and Jared Cannonier, White said he never meant a rematch was set in stone.

“If you remember that night, people said, ‘Well, what do you think? You think there’s a rematch?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, the rematch sounds great,'” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters following Dana White’s Contender Series 62 at the UFC Apex. “I saw the stupid f*cking sh*t that was written by all these stupid f*cking websites.

“Never once did I say, ‘Yes, we’re going to f*cking do this rematch.’ I said, ‘Yeah, rematch sounds – you know, we’ll see what happens.’ There’s obviously lots of options out there, and we’ll see what happens. But, yes, I’m still not opposed to an Israel rematch. We’ll see how it goes.”

Strickland has options for his first title defense. If not an immediate rematch with Adesanya, original title challenger Du Plessis is waiting in the wings. There’s also Cannonier, who weighed in as a backup for Strickland vs. Adesanya and recently holds a close main event win over the champion.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 62.