Strickland reacts to Adesanya's loss: He's just 'not that good'

Following Dricus Du Plessis' submission win over Israel Adesanya at UFC 305, Sean Strickland has concluded that Adesanya was never as talented as it seemed.

"I just don't think Izzy's that good," Strickland said earlier this week on the "Verse Us with Eric Nicksick" podcast.

Strickland outworked "The Last Stylebender" en route to a shocking unanimous decision win at UFC 293 last September to capture the middleweight championship. He then lost the title to Du Plessis via split decision in January.

Du Plessis defended the belt for the first time against Adesanya, sinking in a rear-naked choke in the fourth round of Saturday's back-and-forth main event in Perth, Australia.

Adesanya is widely considered the second-greatest middleweight in UFC history behind Anderson Silva. The Nigerian-born New Zealander defended the title five times across two reigns and defeated the likes of current light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, Robert Whittaker, Paulo Costa, and Yoel Romero.

However, Strickland believes that Adesanya's competitive fight with Kelvin Gastelum in 2019 indicates that the 35-year-old was never truly great.

"When he fought Kelvin, I think Kelvin sucks," Strickland said. "Everyone's like, 'Oh man, Izzy's this and that.' I've sparred Kelvin so many times, where I'm like, you kind of had a close fight with Kelvin. You're not that f-----g good. You fought Costa. Costa was scared shitless of you. You f-----g blew on him, and he fell asleep. Izzy's just not that f-----g good."

Strickland added: "When I say you're not that good, I'm not talking about 90% of the roster. I'm talking about the 10% of the f-----g most elite guys. That's what I'm talking about. And you're not in that."

Strickland rebounded from his loss to Du Plessis with a decision win over Costa at UFC 302 in June. UFC CEO Dana White recently named Strickland the No. 1 contender for the title, though a rematch against Du Plessis hasn't been finalized.