Jan Blachowicz was impressed with the level of wrestling defence Israel Adesanya displayed as he defended his middleweight title against Marvin Vettori at UFC 263 this past weekend.
‘Stylebender’ slumped to his first professional MMA loss when he squared off against Blachowicz earlier this year. The Polish power puncher was able to utilize his superior wrestling skills to eke out the light-heavyweight title bout in the championship rounds of their UFC 259 match-up.
Ahead of his latest 185lb title defence, many talked about Blachowicz providing the blueprint on how to beat Adesanya. On fight night, Vettori came at Adesanya with a heavy wrestling approach but did not find the same success Blachowicz did. ‘Stylebender’ ultimately retained his title via a lopsided judge’s decision.
In a recent interview with James Lynch, Blachowicz reacted to the UFC 263 main event and Adesanya’s improved ability to defend and escape takedowns.
“Good fight to watch. Good job,” Blachowicz said. “I think that Vettori did a little better when he took him down, but I think Adesanya did his homework, and now he will be much more dangerous on the ground. He swept him a couple of times — when Vettori caught his back he escaped really easy. So nice job.”
“Did I show the world how to do this? Israel is one of the best in the world,” Blachowicz added. “He’s a world champion. Like I said before, he did his homework really well and we saw the result in the fight, so congrats. (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)
Blachowicz is set to make a second defence of his light-heavyweight title when he squares off against Glover Teixeira later this year. The bout is set for UFC 266 but as of right now where or when that event will take place is still a mystery.
Do you agree with Jan Blachowicz? Did Israel Adesanya impress you at UFC 263?