Henry Cejudo: 'Dana White's Boy' Israel Adesanya will get Sean Strickland rematch even though he shouldn't
Henry Cejudo doesn’t think Israel Adesanya deserves an immediate rematch against Sean Strickland.
Adesanya (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) lost his middleweight title to Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) in a massive upset this past Saturday at UFC 293. Cejudo is sure UFC CEO Dana White will grant Adesanya an immediate rematch, even though he doesn’t think his performance against Strickland warrants one. He cautions Adesanya against accepting an instant rematch.
“After losing four rounds to one, does he deserve a rematch now? No, 100 percent no,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “Daniel Cormier doesn’t believe it, Chael Sonnen doesn’t believe it, the rest of the whole damn world doesn’t believe it. Will he get it? One hundred percent. When you’re Dana White’s boy, when you’re his cash cow, when you’re an entertainer and when you’ve done special things like Israel and you’ve been able to kind of grow the sport, Dana White will give you that opportunity.
“My question is for you, Israel: Is it smart for you to take a fight against a guy like Sean Strickland? Is Sean Strickland the guy to come back after being dominated in a five-round fight? I didn’t see that spark in him. It was a trip. It’s not like Sean Strickland even did anything special either. He fought him the way he fought everybody else, and he was able to win.”
Like Kamaru Usman and Daniel Cormier already advised, Cejudo wants to see Adesanya take some time off.
“If I’m in Israel’s shoes, now is time to take a break,” Cejudo said. “Now is time for me to let this division kind of move on. … Since Dana White loves you so much, if you wait a little bit, you raise the stock value of you – people will miss you. Maybe make them miss you after a loss because remember, that’s two losses in the last eight (10) months. In his last three fights, he’s lost twice.
“Yeah, he had a spectacle, and he was able to knock out Alex Pereira, but you lose another fight like that against a one-dimensional fighter like Sean Strickland, that really tarnishes your legacy. If you come back and beat him, kudos, but you still lost to a guy like Sean Strickland. If I’m Israel Adesanya, I’d be taking a backseat.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 293.