Sean Strickland stuns Israel Adesanya to become new middleweight champ

The UFC has a new middleweight champion, and he goes by the name of Sean Strickland (28-5). Strickland dominated the former champion from the opening bell. Strickland was a +400 underdog which after his victory will go down as the largest upset in UFC middleweight history. "I gave up so many brain cells to the MMA gods every day," Strickland said in a post fight interview. "This is the first time I'm lost for words." I feel like the world was at a loss for words. The fight was a total beatdown. Strickland’s work started in the first after he nailed Adesanya with a big left hand then pummeled him with hard shot after hard shot. Judges all scored it 49-46. Strickland entered the fight with the best strike defense among active middleweights at 62.4%. Unofficially, Strickland defended 65% of Adesanya's strikes throughout the five rounds and caused Adesanya to land just 24 of 178 head strike attempts, (14%). Strickland’s forward pace threw Adesanya off. Strickland made the most of an opportunity that was originally meant for Dricus Du Pleisis who called out the fight against Adesanya after suffering an injury the always game Strickland took the fight and cashed in on himself. "Am I f---ing dreaming? Am I going to wake up? Somebody hit me. Literally, never in a million years did I think I was going to be here. Izzy is a bad motherf---er. You don't fight a guy with that many highlight-reel KOs. The majority of my friends, he's beat pretty easy. I was even doubting myself." It’s pretty unclear where both fighters go next, but some hints were dropped on X that UFC should book Strickland vs Du Plesis and Israel Adesanya could fight the winner of Khazmat Chimaev vs Paulo Costa. Chimaev and Adesanya would be a dream fight if made. Maybe some time off for Adesanya would do him some good after how Strickland was able to neutralize his best weapons.