UFC 293 LIVE: Sean Strickland defeats Israel Adesanya via unanimous decision in huge upset, after Alexander Volkov submitted Tai Tuivasa in the co-main event

Thanks for sticking with us throughout that thrilling evening of UFC action. Until next time!

What an upset that is! All the judges scored it in favour of the challenger.

Somewhat surprisingly, he was very classy in his post-fight interview.

Has Sean Strickland just completed a massive upset?! The challenger put in another big round against Israel Adesanya and has surely clinched the middleweight title.

Izzy had no answers for the relentless pressure from Strickland, who called on Adesanya to throw down in the final moments of the bout.

We await the judges decision…

Another big round for Strickland, who has been brilliant so far. Adesanya looked a bit worse for wear by the time the bell went.

You have to say that this one is leaning in favour of the challenger.

Strickland will be pleased with that third round. He’s upped the pressure and is landing some huge shots. Adesanya has been patient but perhaps too patient as he hasn’t managed to get his shots off.

This is going to be interesting. It’s been a very close fight.

Adesanya looks to have recovered pretty quickly from that late flurry in the first round. He seems to be finding his distane and dealing with the pressure of Strickland far better.

Stylebender landed a big right hand towards the end but, aside from that, there weren’t too many big moments.

WOW! Who was expecting that? Sean Strickland drops Israel Adesanya late into that first round. A clean one-two sends the champion to the ground and Strickland quickly pounces.

Not sure how Izzy managed to recover from that. Let’s see how it’s affected him in this second round…

We’re moments away from the main event…

Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will be the headline attraction as the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Australia for the first time since 2017 – but he won’t be facing the opponent he wanted.

Nigerian-born New Zealander Adesanya will defend his freshly recaptured title against the outspoken Sean Strickland as the main card for the UFC 293 Sydney event in September.

Strickland, 32, has won eight of his past 10 fights dating back to May 2018, and has been firing shots at the middleweight champion for a number of years.

Click below to read more…

Well, it feels like we’ve got the main event rather early after the quick-fire main card action but we’re not complaining!

After all the talk, Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland will settle their differences in a five-round fight for the UFC middleweight title.

Walkouts coming up next…

What a fight that was! Volkov really put on a beating in that second round but Tuivasa kept marching forward. Eventually, the Aussie was sent down to the canvas and Volkov quickly pounced and sunk in the ezekiel choke.

The crowd are understandably pretty upset with that outcome but credit to Volkov, that was brilliant.

That was a huge opening round from Alexander Volkov. You get the feeling that he’s going to cause an upset here.

The lead kick is causing Tai Tuivasa some real issues and the home favourite is struggling to close the rather noticeable distance.

That being said, he is finding some luck with his leg kicks. If he keeps that up, the tide could swiftly turn.

Tai Tuivasa vs Alexander Volkov is up next and there’s a lot of hype behind this one. Mainly because people want to see Tuivasa do a ‘shoey’.

The Aussie is going to have the whole arena behind him in this one, let’s see if he can get the job done…

Early pre-lim fighter Charles Radtke caused quite the stir after using a homophobic slur in his post-fight interview. He has now apologised for the incident via a post on his social media.

What a final round that was. Dos Santos looked as though he might cause an upset after a huge shot rocked Kape but he managed to survive.

Kape fired back with some big shots and really tested the chin of Dos Santos.

It goes the distance and all the judges score it 29-28 in Kape’s favour. I’m sure the crowd will love that…

Wow. That was much better from Manel Kape. He really showcased his impressive striking capabilities throughout that round. A truly brilliant counter-puncher.

And there has to be a mention to Dos Santos’ chin. He’s taken some huge shots but just keeps marching forward.

Daniel Cormier has been mentioning the comparisons between Dos Santos and Charles Oliveira and, to be fair, I can see it.

Well, that was interesting. At the start, Dos Santos seemed as if he was overexcited and was at the risk of leaving him self exposed at times.

However, the UFC debutant grew into the round and started landing some nice shots. Kape had some big moments too.

Heading into the second…

What a blistering start to the main card. We’re nearly at the co-main event already!

But before that, we have a really exciting flyweight bout between Manel Kape and Felipe Dos Santos.

Kape stole the show throughout this week’s press conference, let’s see if he can back that up inside the octagon…

It’s a brilliant sport, isn’t it?

Another huge KO win on the main card! Tafa steamrolls Lane within the first two minutes of the fight after a huge right hand landed flush.

A bit of groud-and-pound quickly saw the fight called to an end. What a start to the main card this has been. We’ll be at the main event in no time!

Strickland has arrived ahead of the UFC 293 event and he’s looking cool, calm and composed.

WOW. What a way to start the main card. Tyson Pedro absolutely obliterates Anton Turkalj within the first 2:30 minutes of round one.

Clean combinations from the light heavyweight landed flush on Turkalj and sent him crashing down to the canvas.

Justin Tafa vs Austen Lane is up next. Can we have some more of that please?

Former Aussie UFC star Anthony Perosh is just as excited as I am for the main card:

“It’s great the UFC is back in Sydney! For the main event I’m tipping Israel by KO 3rd round. Israel is better in all areas. Good luck to all Australian and New Zealand fighters today. “

While many will be focused on Adesanya vs Strickland, let’s not forget about this exciting match-up in the heavyweight division.

Reckon we’ll see a ‘shoey’ from Tuivasa tonight?

What a way to close out the pre-lims! Carlos Ulberg and Jung Da Un put on a real showstopper with that back-and-forth encounter.

Ulberg certainly took the first round as he scored a knockdown on Jung. But the South Korean came back strong after utilising his leg-kicks. The third was close but the heavy ground-and-pound from Ulberg swayed it in his favour.

Ulberg sunk in a choke with 10 seconds to go and the tap wasn’t initially spotted but, after reviewing the footage, the correct decision was made.

Onto the main card! Tyson Pedro vs Anton Turkalj is up next…

This one isn’t for the feint hearted…

Nasty finish to that fight as home favourite Jack Jenkins is left with what appears to be a dislocated elbow. In the second round, Mariscal went for the whizzer kick and sent Jenkins crashing to the canvas. The Australian tried to put his arm out to cushion the fall but, in turn, caused serious injury.

Real shame for Jenkins after a very promising first round. It’ll officially go down as a verbal submission.

Final fight of the pre-lim card is coming up next as light heavyweights Carlos Ulberg and Jung Da Un go head-to-head…

As far as UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is concerned, he is the pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter on the planet – not Jon Jones or Alexander Volkanovski.

Currently ranked as the 5th best fighter on the planet by UFC rankings, Adesanya has proved himself as one of the best strikers to ever fight in the promotion.

Click below to read more…

Wow, that was another brilliant fight. Mullarkey takes it by unanimous decision. He was electric in that first round and battled hard throughout the second and third rounds to clinch the victory. Big win for the local lad.

Credit to John Makdessi – he put on a terrific showing in a difficult environment. 29-28.

Jack Jenkins vs Chepe Mariscal is up next…

Former kickboxing world champion John Wayne Parr has had his say ahead of tonight’s main event:

“Izzy’s style is like a ninja, while Strickland is more like the head bouncer at the club. Sure, the bouncer fights the drunks every weekend and is the toughest bloke in the club. But Izzy is a trained assassin where every strike is meant to kill. The expression that there are levels to this sport will be put on display today.”

Controversial MMA star Sean Strickland put the call out for Sydney sparring partners ahead of his middleweight title fight with Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 this weekend – and he’s fully prepared to beat up any novices who want to put their hand up.

Strickland, who’s made it known he enjoys beating people up in the gym, took to social media on Wednesday morning to see if any locals were game.

‘The UFC says I must do some open work outs tonight at 540,’ he wrote on Twitter.

Click below to read more…

What a blistering start to the pre-lims that was! It felt pretty even up until the second round, when Haqparast really turned on the heat. Quinones looked a little beleaguered heading into the third round and it really showed as he was absolutely smothered by his counterpart, who was relentless throughout the fight. 30-27.

Jamie Mullarkey vs John Makdessi is up next…

Israel Adesanya hit back at Sean Strickland after his rival mocked him for wearing nail polish – vowing to ‘knock him out with painted nails’.

Strickland has been firing shots at Adesanya in the build up to their championship bout at UFC 293 in Sydney on September 10.

Speaking ahead of the fight, the American said Adesanya represents a guy who ‘f***ing paints his nails’.

Click below to read more…

Here’s the full fight card for your viewing pleasure. We’ve already had the early pre-lims – where Radtke, Miranda and Jousset picked up victories.

Up first will on the pre-lims is the lightweight bout between Haqparast vs Quinones.

Welcome to Mail Sport’s live blog for tonight’s UFC 293 event in Sydney, Australia. Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland will go head-to-head in a bout for the middleweight title but, before that, there’s plenty of action to sink your teeth into.

The main event will get going somewhere between 5-6am, so strap in for a long one folks!