"I just kept it real and chill" - Israel Adesanya doubles down on calling out Sean Strickland for selling his 'soul' at UFC 293 presser

Israel Adesanya is set to defend his middleweight title against Sean Strickland at UFC 293 this weekend. Ahead of the bout, 'The Last Stylebender' called out his opponent for signing an endorsement deal with Monster Energy. The middleweight champion shared a clip of his back and forth with 'Tarzan' at Thursday's press conference to his Instagram, captioning the post:

"This c**t calling me a sellout meanwhile he literally sold his soul for a bag. This is why yous will always get fooled by politicians. I just kept it real and chill. Even look at his shirt, his hat, the cunt is pandering. Bet he won’t do a shoey… 👀 😂 nah it’s calm. Soon kill."

Check out Israel Adesanya's comments on Sean Strickland below:

Adesanya has had a long-standing feud with Monster Energy, as have several fighters on the UFC roster. Much of the vitriol is seemingly due to company employee Hans Molenkamp.

Two-time bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz famously called for a charity mixed martial arts bout against Molenkamp, accusing him of holding fighters' contracts hostage unless they comment on his social media posts and post photos of him on their profiles.

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Israel Adesanya discusses dealing with emotions on his path to greatness

Israel Adesanya is cementing his legacy as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time. 'The Last Stylebender' recently opened up on managing his emotions. Speaking at the UFC 293 media day, he stated:

"I question myself all the time. If I have a feeling of jealousy or envy or I'm angry or I'm sad about something, I'm like, 'well, where is that coming from?' This is the work I've done. If you watch the movie, Stylebender, you will see I've done the work on myself and I'm like, 'where is that coming from? Where is that emotion coming from?'

Adesanya continued:

"When I identify the monster, then I kill it and then I'm able to move on with my life. And then sometimes it might rear its ugly head against and I'm like, 'ah, it's about to come out, squash' because I can sense it's coming. I'm not perfect, bro, I'm f**king - I'm human, I'm a piece of s**t sometimes, but also, I'm the man sometimes. A lot of the times. That's just the dichotomy of being a human animal."

Check out Israel Adesanya's comments on dealing with emotions below (starting at the 1:40 mark):

Adesanya shared that his critics expect him to handle his losses, particularly his UFC 281 defeat to Alex Pereira, by being depressed. Instead, however, he was able to bounce back by reclaiming the middleweight title at UFC 287 with one of the most memorable knockouts in recent memory.