UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has officially confirmed he will be moving up to light-heavyweight to challenge Jan Blachowicz for his recently acquired 205lb title.
According to reports over the weekend, Dana White confirmed Adesanya would move up in weight for his next fight and challenger Blachowicz. In an interview with Submission Radio ‘Stylebender’ confirmed the rumours to be true, he said.
“It’s official. I guess Dana broke the news, so yeah, I’m going up to 205, and I’m gonna snatch that 205 strap. Respectfully.”
Adesanya openly admitted that Robert Whittaker beating Jared Cannonier at UFC 254 is a key reason why he is pursuing a second title at light-heavyweight rather than defend against his number one contender – a man he has already beat.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Adesanya said. “Robert did well to stifle Jared and broke his arm, and I was looking forward to that fight. So, I was like, alright. And then it’s like the ultimate alley-oop from the universe. I’m like, yes, it’s perfect. And this is the thing, you have to be flexible in this game. In life, you have to be flexible, cause nothing’s certain, nothing’s given. The landscape of things change all the time. And yeah, this is just right there for the taking. So, I was like, this is perfect. This is perfect for that Jones fight I keep talking about, this is perfect leading up to it. So, yeah, was it’s just right there for the taking.”
The middleweight king respects Blachowicz as an opponent but fancies his chances when they square off.
“With Jan, he’s a good fighter, he’s solid on the ground, he’s awkward on the feet, very dangerous, and he poses a lot of problems,” Adesanya explained. And like, the Whittaker fight wouldn’t get me hard. This gets me hard. Like, this is like, alright, let’s go.”
“He’s dangerous on the ground, he’s awkward on the feet, got that legendary Polish power. But yeah, everyone’s got power, right? I mean, it’s something I proved in my last fight. I told y’all. You have to delivery that power somehow, you have to get it to the target. I’m not the easiest target to hit.”
Do you think Israel Adesanya can become a two-weight UFC champion?