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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) interim middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, has yet to reach the summit at 185 pounds and is already talking about super fights in other weight classes, but don’t expect “The Last Stylebender” to make his light heavyweight debut any time soon.
That’s because his longtime coach, Eugene Bareman, wants the undefeated striking phenom to jump directly to the heavyweight division. Not to avoid fighting Jon Jones, but rather to take exploit weaknesses that are exclusive to the 265-pound weight class.
A place Adesanya is intimately familiar with.
“Yeah, definitely,” Adesanya told Submission Radio about fighting UFC heavyweight champion, Stipe Miocic. “There are certain things we can take advantage of (at heavyweight). And people think I’m gonna have to put on size, but that’s cause they’re dumb, they don’t understand the game. I weighed in with full clothes and a box of Dunkin’ Donuts the last time I fought at heavyweight. And so I stayed the same weight, but I still packed a punch. And I even dropped the second guy, flatlined him.”
Adesanya (17-0) spent several years on the kickboxing circuit before transitioning to MMA.
“The Last Stylebender” has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top of the middleweight division, both in wins and in popularity. But he still needs to defeat Robert Whittaker and unify the division titles before the promotion will entertain any super fight discussions.
Their five-round title fight will headline the UFC 243 pay-per-view (PPV) fight card (see it) this Sat. night (Oct. 5, 2019) inside Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, an event that is expected to set another attendance record “Down Under.”
For much more on UFC 243 click here.