Dana White isn't trying to take anything away from Sean Strickland's shocking victory over Israel Adesanya to become the new middleweight champion at UFC 293 on Sunday.
"He came into hostile territory, the whole world talking s—t about him, the whole world saying he couldn't do it — a 7-to-1 underdog — came in and almost finished him in the first round and won the championship," White said about the new champ Strickland during the UFC 293 post-event press conference in Australia.
That being said, the UFC president couldn't help but wonder if something was wrong with Adesanya.
"Israel looked like he was in slow motion," White said. "He looked like he couldn't get off [on offense].
"He looked like he was really stiff tonight. He looked very slow."
White added: "Only Israel knows what's going on. There are a million things that could go wrong. Some days you wake up and it's just not there, man. He looked bone dry when he came out tonight, standing up really tall, looked very slow, looked like he couldn't get off at all."
White tacked on how Adesanya didn't show any sense of urgency in the fifth and final round, knowing he needed a finish to retain the title.
Much has been made of Adesanya's activity entering this bout as the fight against Strickland marked "The Last Stylebender's" fifth fight since February 2022.
All that being said, White believes a rematch between Strickland and Adesanya is in order: "I think you do the rematch, absolutely.
"The rematch is interesting."