"My Mandarin is rusty" - Israel Adesanya posts hilarious meme of Joe Biden 'ordering Chinese' in response to Sean Strickland

Israel Adesanya is no longer expected to face Dricus du Plessis in what many fans hoped would be a blockbuster bout that would settle their heated rivalry. Instead, 'The Last Stylebender' is now scheduled to take on Sean Strickland in the UFC 293 headliner, which marks the promotion's return to Australia since UFC 284.

The middleweight champion has come under major scrutiny as of late, with many highlighting the hypocrisy of his anger over du Plessis' statements, given his own past questioning of Robert Whittaker's New Zealand heritage, as well as once claiming that he represented China. Naturally, he took to Twitter to respond.

But instead of outright addressing the situation, Adesanya opted for humor by posting a short clip of United States president Joe Biden rambling incoherently, captioning it by saying that his Mandarin skills are rusty. It marks a departure from Adesanya's usually emotionally charged response to most criticisms.

Sean Strickland is notable for frequently bringing up the fact that the UFC's reigning middleweight champion has previously claimed to be Chinese in a video. The video, however, stems from several Chinese commercials that he starred in during his time on Asian soil when he was still a kickboxer.

Fans expect 'Tarzan' to make mention of all of this at the pre-fight conference ahead of the pair's bout. Unfortunately, not much is expected of Strickland's performance inside the octagon. He's a skilled but ultimately unremarkable fighter, who no one expects to trouble Adesanya.

'The Last Stylebender,' however, has noted that he cannot underestimate his foe, lest he suffer the same fate as Luke Rockhold when Michael Bisping famously knocked him out to become the UFC middleweight champion in one of the promotion's Cinderella moments.

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Will Israel Adesanya fight at light heavyweight again?

Despite having fought at 205 pounds during his kickboxing run, Israel Adesanya has spent most of his MMA career fighting as a middleweight. But at UFC 259, he made an unsuccessful attempt at dethroning Jan Błachowicz as the UFC light heavyweight champion. For his troubles, Adesanya suffered his first MMA loss.

He hasn't returned to the light heavyweight division since, but has expressed his willingness to face longtime rival Alex Pereira at 205 pounds in an MMA trilogy bout, if 'Poatan' captures the light heavyweight title. Having beaten Jan Błachowicz at UFC 291, 'Poatan' is now expected to face Jiří Procházka for the vacant title.