It took Sean Strickland a while, but he eventually faced off with UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya for their showdown Saturday at UFC 293.
Strickland initially gave Adesanya his shoulder at staredowns for the pay-per-view presser, which takes place at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. Strickland preferred to lap it up with fans in attendance after showering them with praise – and insulting the defending champ.
After some prodding, Strickland eventually squared up with Adesanya for cameras, but he still looked out at the audience, wearing the big smile he flashed as he mocked his opponent as the “Chinese champion,” a reference to Adesanya’s long stint kickboxing overseas.
You can see video of the staredown above, and a video of all staredowns from the press conference can be seen below.
