"I'm doing a Michael Jordan"- Israel Adesanya highlights personal remark from Sean Strickland that fuels the UFC 293 clash

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is set to defend his title for the first time in his second reign against No.5-ranked contender Sean Strickland. The two will headline UFC 293 on September 9 in Sydney, Australia.

In the build-up to the fight, Strickland has upped the ante on the trash talking and made various comments about Adesanya's time in China. 'The Last Stylebender' often carried the Chinese flag during his days at Glory Kickboxing and also starred in Chinese adverts.

Israel Adesanya addressed the comments from 'Tarzan' in a media day appearance ahead of fight night and denied being bothered by them:

“Chinese thing, I don’t give a f**k. I actually have traveled around the world. [laughs] I’ve worked around the world. I’ve fought around the world. I’ve acted around the world. I’ve never even addressed it because, look, if I gave a f**k, I’d address it… But I really don’t give a f**k. I’ve been working around the world and making bags."

However, Adesanya did single out Sean Strickland questioning his morals and referenced basketball great Michael Jordan in taking the comment personally. The middleweight champion stated that he would use the remarks to fuel his game against the challenger:

"Only thing he said was one clip someone sent to me and he’s questioning my morals and I was like, ‘you’ve never even had a conversation with me and you’re questioning…’ So that one is one, I’m doing a Michael Jordan, I’m taking that one personally, so I can use that against him. But everything else I don’t care.”

Check out his comments on media day below [2:51:30]:

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Israel Adesanya hits back at Sean Strickland - "I just got him his first passport"

Israel Adesanya had some of his own retorts to dish out after Sean Strickland's incessant comments about his affiliation with China.

Adesanya joked in an interview with Sky Sports that he was responsible for Strickland's first passport to travel to Australia for their showdown at UFC 293.

He said:

“The worst thing he can find about me is that I acted in China. I acted on a sketch in China. And then he’s just like using that as like, ‘Oh look at this guy!’ Okay, yeah I traveled. I worked around the world. You’ve never even left the country. [laughs] Holy f**k, that’s funny. I actually just got him his first passport. Literally. I - this is breaking news - I just got him his first passport to leave the country."

Check out Israel Adesanya's full comments below [7:41]: