UFC middleweight contender Jack Hermansson expects to defeat Marvin Vettori in the UFC Vegas 16 main event this weekend at APEX in “Sin City,” but also expects a lengthy delay in securing a 185-pound title shot against Israel Adesanya.
That’s because “The Last Stylebender” will be moving up to light heavyweight to challenge reigning 205-pound kingpin Jan Blachowicz. Just don’t expect “The Joker” to sit around twiddling his thumbs while waiting for Adesanya to find his way back home.
“Adesanya looks like he’ll be fighting Jan,” Hermansson said during the UFC Vegas 16 media day (via MMA Junkie). “In that case, I want to fight with Adesanya. I feel like he fought Whittaker, he fought Paulo Costa. Cannonier is coming from a loss. So I could wait for ‘Izzy’ and give him his next title defense at middleweight after Jan. If the UFC wants me to, I could fight Costa or Whittaker as a contender fight, as well, so I think that’s what’s up for the next year.”
Hermansson (21-5), who was asking for Costa as far back as Sept. 2019, picked the Brazilian to upset Adesanya for the middleweight title; however, “The Last Stylebender” destroyed “The Eraser” at UFC 253 by way of second-round technical knockout.
None of this matters if Hermansson is unable to get past Vettori this Saturday in Las Vegas. “The Italian Dream,” who knows a thing or two about fighting Adesanya, is the winner of three straight and just coming into his prime at age 27.
No question this is an important weekend for the middleweight division.
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