Israel Adesanya 'Quietly Confident' He'd Win Rematch vs. Sean Strickland After Loss

Israel Adesanya said in a YouTube video posted Wednesday that he is "quietly confident" he would beat Sean Strickland in a rematch.

"I'm quietly confident," Adesanya said, per ESPN's Brett Okamoto. "That's after watching the fight. I was like, 'Oh yeah, I see [what went wrong].

"It felt like a bad dream. Not a nightmare, [because] in a nightmare you're scared. I was like, you try and hit the guy and it's just noodle arms. It just felt like a bad dream. Feeling and watching it were completely different. I called [head coach] Eugene Bareman and it was the same thing. We're quietly confident."

Strickland beat Adesanya for his UFC middleweight belt on Sept. 10 via unanimous decision. All three judges gave Strickland four rounds to one for Adesanya.

UFC President Dana White told reporters that he's open to a rematch but that it's not confirmed.

"There's obviously lots of options out there, and we'll see what happens," White said in part, per Farah Hannoun and Ken Hathaway of MMA Junkie. "But, yes, I'm still not opposed to an Israel rematch. We'll see how it goes."

Adesanya has only lost three professional MMA matches in his illustrious career, and one of them was a temporary move up to light heavyweight to fight for then-champion Jan Błachowicz's belt. His other loss was to Alex Pereira, but Adesanya won a rematch to regain his belt.

Now Strickland is the champion after the biggest win of his career. We'll see if Adesanya gets that rematch, but it's clear he feels the bout would go in his way a second time around.