Coach: Adesanya Can Win Rematch vs. Strickland ‘With Some Minor Adjustments’

City Kickboxing coach Eugene Bareman sounded just as surprised as the rest of the MMA world by Sean Strickland’s upset victory over Israel Adesanya at UFC 293.

“The universe does things. I think Sean is a great fighter and I never thought that Sean wasn’t capable of beating Israel, but I thought if Israel performed to the fullest of his capabilities, that it would be hard for Sean,” said Bareman, who fielded questions from the media after UFC 293 in place of Adesanya, who only made a brief statement before leaving the podium.

“There was an alternate kind of universe where Israel performs his poorest or poorly where Sean could win, and I’m sitting in that universe right now. Training camp was great. I’m not going to make any excuses in regard to that,” Bareman continued. “Leading up to the fight was great, sparring partners, everything. All the technical things that have to do with the camp were perfect. No excuses there. He came in, he had an off night, he couldn’t see the same things that we were seeing. We couldn’t make a good connection in the corner. It was just a frustrating night. But why was it a frustrating night? Well, it was a frustrating night because of the opponent. Don’t take nothing away from the opponent.”

Sean pressured and outworked Adesanya for the better part of five rounds in the UFC 293 headliner, winning a unanimous decision in surprising fashion over an opponent generally regarded as one of the best strikers in the sport. Bareman is confident that a few things could be tweaked to change the outcome in favor of his fighter.

“I asked [UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard] if we could have the rematch next weekend,” Bareman said. “Will he grant it? I’m not sure, but I’m just very confident we can change the outcome of this fight with some minor adjustments. What I’m saying is that we couldn’t get Israel to enact our plan. There wasn’t much cohesion in the corner. You have nights like this. I think we can do the rematch tomorrow and have a good night.”

While the date of a potential return date is unclear, UFC president Dana White indicated that he is in favor of a rematch between Strickland and Adesanya. While Bareman believes in Adesanya’s ability to rebound, he also knowns that preparing for Strickland again comes with its own set of challenges.

“In my career, I’ve been involved in a few rematch camps and they’re very, very difficult. Why are they so difficult, why is a rematch camp so difficult? Because you’re trying to find other stones to leave unturned, but you already haven’t left a stone unturned, so it’s almost an impossible task,” Bareman said. “You’re trying to find another level above the level that you’ve already achieved, but it’s not achievable, so it’s very, very difficult when you go into these rematch camps and at these levels I’ve done a few, the [Alex] Pereira one just recently.

“It’s very, very difficult to do a rematch camp, but like I said, I don’t think we have to change too much but we will find something because we have the benefit of time. So we will get down to our usual business as a coaching team and we’ll find something to add to this camp and we’ll win the rematch.”