"Not gonna be a one-sided beating" - UFC light heavyweight believes Sean Strickland has got the 'skills' to keep Israel Adesanya fight 'interesting'

Anthony Smith believes Sean Strickland could surprise fans with his performance against Israel Adesanya this weekend. The UFC light heavyweight contender recently weighed in on the upcoming middleweight title fight and claimed 'Tarzan' was skillful enough to prevent a one-sided beatdown.

Strickland is set to challenge Israel Adesanya for the 185-pound strap at UFC 293 at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney this weekend. The fight will mark the 32-year-old American's first title opportunity and the reigning champion's sixth career title defense.

Given Israel Adesanya's incredible resume and reputation as one of the UFC's best strikers, only a few predict Sean Strickland to emerge victorious. While the consensus is that 'Tarzan' is in for a severe beating at the hands of a much superior striker, Anthony Smith disagrees.

In a recent episode of the Believe You Me podcast, 'Lionheart' discussed the Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland fight.

Smith claimed that while he doesn't think 'Tarzan' will win, the title challenger is skilled enough to make the contest "interesting." He said:

"People are going to tell me I'm crazy. I think he's got the skills to keep it interesting. I don't think he'll win, but it's not gonna be a one-sided beating like a lot of people believe it's going to be."

Catch Smith's comments below (6:40):

---

Israel Adesanya promises to channel his inner "John Wick" against Sean Strickland at UFC 293

Israel Adesanya is looking to punish Sean Strickland for all of his trash-talking over the past few weeks. In the build-up to their UFC 293 headliner, 'Tarzan' amplified his trolling attacks on 'The Last Stylebender' and recently made crass jokes about an old controversial video of Adesanya with his late dog.

For context, Adesanya has previously expressed how much he loved his pet, Millionaire, and how important the dog was to him. After Strickland trolled their relationship, the middleweight king was understandably irked and promised to get his revenge just like Keanu Reeves' character from the movie 'John Wick.'

In the film series, John Wick goes on a savage crusade against his dog's killers, and Israel Adesanya is looking to harness that same energy against Sean Strickland on Sunday.

In a recent interview with MMA journalist John Gooden, Adesanya promised to punish Strickland for joking about his late pet and said:

"I could have stooped to his level... He knows he's out-gunned and outmanned on this one. So he's gonna try and stoop low, and he went deep. And the worst thing he did was bring up my dead homie, and I'm gonna go John Wick on this man."