“Maybe I have to cut the weight and give him rematch in his category.”
Jan Blachowicz wants to give Israel Adesanya a taste of his ‘legendary Polish power’ at middleweight.
The Pole has already defeated ‘The Last Stylebender’ at light heavyweight, so why not attempt another victory in Adesanya’s native weight class and go for a second world title?
The former UFC light heavyweight champion teased the matchup during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.
“Maybe this is the reason that now he will be very careful in the fights to not make any mistakes,” Blachowicz, who beat Adesanya via unanimous decision at UFC 259, said (h/t MMA Fighting). “Just don’t lose the fight. Maybe I have to cut the weight and give him rematch in his category.
“If I have a chance, why not? For Izzy and his belt, to fight for the belt? I can try.”
There’s just one problem: Blachowicz is on the bigger end of the 205-pound spectrum, and the lightest he’s ever been is 200 pounds. With that said, the UFC veteran is confident he could cut to 185 because he knows the payoff (winning the middleweight title) would be worth it.
“I don’t remember [the lightest I’ve been as an MMA fighter] but when I was a fighter in Muay Thai, it was 91 kilos or [200 pounds],” he said. “For a title, I can sacrifice myself a little bit. Why not? I will do it.”
Blachowciz lost the light heavyweight title to Glover Teixeira at UFC 267 but bounced back into title contention with a stoppage win (knee injury) over Aleksandar Rakic at UFC on ESPN 36. The 39-year-old has called for a title shot against newly-crowned champ Jiri Prochazka in Europe.
Jiri, let’s do this! The Battle for Europe. The biggest fight in the Continent’s history. @jiri_bjp @ufc @UFCEurope #UFC275
— Jan Blachowicz (@JanBlachowicz) June 12, 2022
If that fight doesn’t happen, who knows? Perhaps Blachowciz will decide to challenge himself at a new weight class and make the cut to middleweight. He is currently #2 in the UFC light heavyweight rankings and has won six out of his last seven fights.