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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight contender Jack Hermansson returned to the 185-pound title chase with a slick submission win over Kelvin Gastelum in the UFC Fight Island 2 co-main event last weekend in Abu Dhabi.
Watch the video highlights here.
And with Israel Adesanya defending his division title against Paulo Costa at the UFC 253 pay-per-view (PPV) event this September, “The Joker” is already making arrangements to battle “The Eraser,” assuming “The Last Stylebender” wilts under the Brazilian’s “insane pressure.”
“I believe Paulo Costa will be champion when I fight for the title,” Hermansson said after the fight. “He’s going to put some pressure on Adesanya. Paulo Costa’s pressure is just insane. He’s throwing so hard with everything he’s got. He can do it for almost all of the rounds. It’s just incredible the physique and the power that guy has. I think that’s going to be problematic for Adesanya. But you don’t know what’s going to happen in this sport. Adesanya is a great fighter, he’s a standup wizard and it’s going to be an interesting fight.”
Hermansson (21-5) is unlikely to jump right into a middleweight title fight and is already planning to make a pit stop against the winner of Robert Whittaker vs. Darren Till, who compete in the UFC on ESPN 14 main event this weekend on “Fight Island.”
“The winner between Robert Whittaker and Darren Till, that’s the fight to make,” Hermansson said. “That’s the only thing that makes sense right now, so I’m keeping my eyes on that fight next weekend.”
The middleweight Top 5 (see it here) could look drastically different in as little as six months.