Sean Strickland says he doesn’t understand the hype around Israel Adesanya after spending five rounds in the cage with him.

Israel Adesanya is widely regarded as one of the best middleweights in UFC history, but don’t expect former opponent Sean Strickland to sign any petitions to keep him on that list.

This past Saturday, Adesanya suffered a second consecutive loss for the first time in his MMA career when he fell by rear-naked choke submission to Dricus du Plessis in UFC 305’s main event. That fight came almost one year after Strickland dominated Adesanya over five rounds to claim the middleweight title in a stunning upset.

Despite those losses, Adesanya is still a highly revered former champion, but Strickland just doesn’t understand the hype around “The Last Stylebender.”

“I have an unpopular opinion, you guys aren’t going to like it. I just don’t think Izzy’s that good,” Strickland said on the Verse Us podcast. “So let me tell you why. Like, going into [UFC 293], I’m like, ‘I’m going to beat the fck out of you. You watch anime, you suck, I’m going to fck you up.’ Everybody is like, ‘Why would you say that about Izzy?’

“When he fought Kelvin [Gastelum], I think Kelvin sucks. Everyone’s like, ‘Izzy’s this and that.’ I’ve sparred Kelvin so many times, where I’m like, you kind of had a close fight with Kelvin — like, you’re not that fcking good. You fought fcking [Paulo] Costa. Costa was scared shitless of you. You fcking blew on him, he fell asleep. Izzy’s not that fcking good.”

Strickland said he spent significant time training with Gastelum when both fighters worked out of southern California, and ultimately clarified his feelings toward the TUF 17 winner.

“I love Kelvin. Kelvin is a standup guy,” Strickland said. “When I say you’re not that good, I’m talking about 90 percent of the [UFC] roster. I’m talking about the 10 percent of the f*cking most elite guys, that’s what I’m talking about and you’re not in that.

“When [Adesanya] fought Kelvin, I was like, ‘You let Kelvin have that close of a fight with you?’ If I fought Kelvin, Kelvin wouldn’t even touch me. It would be one of those fight where you’re like, ‘I just want this thing to f*cking end.’”