Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland to Headline UFC 293 in Sydney on Sept. 9

BREAKING: Sydney, your #UFC293 main event is official!! 🚨🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/D2t7xTy8Ns

— UFC (@ufc) August 8, 2023

Israel Adesanya’s next middleweight title defense will not come against the opponent many initially anticipated.

UFC president Dana White announced on Tuesday that Adesanya will face Sean Strickland in the UFC 293 main event in Sydney, Australia on Sept. 9. Three other fights were confirmed for the card: Alexander Volkov vs. Taia Tuivasa at heavyweight; Kaia Kara-France vs. Manel Kape at flyweight and Austen Lane vs. Justin Tafa at heavyweight.

“This will be Adesanya’s 11th consecutive title fight. What I love about Israel is he’s always ready to take on the best in the world — anyone, anytime,” White said. “And Strickland is an absolute maniac who doesn’t back down from anyone. This will be a great fight.”

Adesanya was supposed to face top middleweight contender Dricus Du Plessis, as indicated by their heated in-cage faceoff following Du Plessis’ win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 290. However, Ariel Helwani recently reported that Du Plessis was “banged up” headling into his July matchup with Whittaker and a September turnaround wouldn’t have been ideal for the South African.

After losing the 185-pound to Alex Pereira via fifth-round TKO at UFC 281, Adesanya regained the title with a second-round KO of “Poatan” at UFC 287 on April 8. Pereira is the only middleweight to defeat “The Last Stylebender” in UFC competition. The Nigerian-born Kiwi owns notable wins over the likes of Whittaker (twice), Anderson Silva, Yoel Romero, Marvin Vettori (twice), Paulo Costa, Jared Cannonier, Kelvin Gastelum and Derek Brunson.

Strickland, meanwhile, is coming off a second-round technical knockout victory against the little-known Abusupiyan Magomedov in the UFC on ESPN 48 main event on July 1. Prior to that, he kicked off his 2023 campaign with a five-round verdict against Nassourdine Imavov in the UFC Fight Night 217 main event on Jan. 14. The former King of the Cage champion has won eight of his last 10 Octagon appearances dating back to October 2018.