Sean Strickland pulled off one of the biggest upsets in UFC history Saturday, defeating Israel Adesanya via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) to capture the middleweight title in the UFC 293 main event in Sydney, Australia.
Adesanya, a Nigerian-born New Zealander, was making the first title defense of his second 185-pound reign after beating Alex Pereira to regain the belt in April.
“Am I f—–g dreaming? Am I going to wake up? Somebody hit me,” Strickland said in his postfight interview. “Oh my God, you guys. Literally, never in a million years would I have thought I’d be here.”