Israel Adesanya excited to expose ‘gym hero’ Sean Strickland: “Knock him out with my painted nails”

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is looking forward to fighting Sean Strickland.

‘The Last Stylebender’ has been out of action since his April rematch with Alex Pereira. Just months after suffering a knockout loss to ‘Poatan’, the former champion avenged his defeat. In the main event of UFC 287, Israel Adesanya scored a second-round knockout win to re-earn middleweight gold.

Now months following the win, he will face Sean Strickland. ‘Tarzan’ is coming off back-to-back wins over Abus Magomedov, and Nassourdine Imavov earlier this year. Due to an injury to Dricus du Plessis, he got the short-notice nod to headline UFC 293 next month.

Ahead of the middleweight title bout, both men have become personal. For his part, Israel Adesanya discussed the upcoming bout in an interview with MMA Fighting. There, the middleweight champion took aim at Sean Strickland over previous comments about him painting his nails, among other things.

The champion plans to have painted nails for their September bout and to hopefully score a knockout with them. Also in the interview, Israel Adesanya took aim at Sean Strickland for his hard sparring videos that have been released.

RELATED: ISRAEL ADESANYA VOWS TO MAKE SEAN STRICKLAND HIS “B*TCH” AT UFC 293: “BEHIND THE SCENES HE’S SOFT”

“He’s an idiot,” Israel Adesanya stated regarding his fight with Sean Strickland. “I’m not going to lose to an idiot. He says he’s not going to lose to a guy that jerks off to cartoons or paints his nails. Well, I’m going to paint my nails for that fight and I’m going to knock him out with my painted nails… I don’t listen to people [telling me I should win]. That’s [how]. I only listen to me and my team and this guy, he’s already pissed me off with his energy. The way he comes across and the way he tries to antagonize me.” (h/t MMA Fighting)

He continued, “I don’t like the way he conducts himself. Even his sparring footage will pop up in my feed sometimes and I’m just like what the f***? Who does that? He’s a gym hero. He’s just an idiot and he’s not the kind of person I associate myself with and also he’s fugazi.”

What do you make of these comments? Are you excited about Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland?