Sean Strickland became the new middleweight champion on Saturday night by beating Israel Adesanya

At UFC 293 at the Sydney Qudos Bank Arena, Sean Strickland, who entered the contest as a huge underdog and was ranked fifth in the middleweight class, upsets Israel Adesanya by winning 49-46 on all three judges' scores.In the main event of UFC 293 in Sydney on Saturday night, Sean Strickland defeated Israel Adesanya by majority decision to win the middleweight championship.




The scoreboard showed Strickland (28-5-0), who has won three straight UFC fights and nine of his past 11 fights, winning 49-46, 49-46, 49-46 in favor of the middleweight champion. Strickland is ranked sixth in the division. In his last three fights, Adesanya (24-3-0) has suffered two defeats.

Strickland landed 137 strikes compared to Adesanya's 94 to take the belt.

"Am I dreaming? Am I going to wake up? Somebody hit me," Strickland said in the Octagon after the biggest fight of his career.

"Oh my God guys. Literally, never in a million years did I thought I would be here

In other action, Alexander Volkov (37-10-0) used an Ezekiel choke to best Tai Tuivasa (15-6-0) in a heavyweight match. In a flyweight battle, Manel Kape (19-6-0) used 77 strikes to the head to topple Felipe dos Santos (7-1-0) by unanimous decision, with the cards reading 30-27, 29-28, 29-28.

Justin Tafa (7-3-0) won his heavyweight bout, and Tyson Pedro (10-4-0) prevailed in a light heavyweight skirmish.