UFC just announced that the Middleweight Champion, Israel Adesanya is moving up to fight Light-Heavyweight Title, Jan Blachowicz. Adesanya is looking to attempt the coveted double champ status that only a few great fighters have achieved. The fight is booked as the main event for UFC 259 on March 6. Both fighter’s last fight was on the same event which was UFC 253.
Israel Adesanya will move up to challenge Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight title at UFC 259, @danawhite told @bokamotoESPN. pic.twitter.com/FVt5v8BV2o
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) December 31, 2020
It is a shame since Glover Teixeira deserves the title shot more than any contender but UFC is looking to put up a bigger name. Glover is already 41 years old, and his fighting years is limited. He fought for the title once but fell short against a prime Jon Jones. Sadly the reality is Teixeira cannot generate casual viewers as much as Adesanya.
Obviously, the UFC wants to book Jon Jones vs Israel Adesanya super fight. If Adesanya wins, it is very likely that the Adesanya vs Jones will happen. Jones and Adesanya already had back and forth prior to the moving up.
When Dana White was interviewed, he said that the dream fight that he wants to make for 2021 is Adesanya vs Jones super fight. Although it is also worth noting that Jones is bulking up as of this moment because he plans to move up to heavyweight and also capture the heavyweight strap.
In the fight, Adesanya is leaning to be the favorite since he looks to be dominant in most of his fights and is also undefeated. Jan Blachowicz lost to a high-level striker before which was Thiago Santos. Had Santos won the fight against Glover it would have possibly made a rematch for Blachowicz vs Santos.
If both Jones and Adesanya are successful in their moving up, it could potentially make the biggest fight the UFC has ever seen. The only thing that could be on par with it would be Khabib vs Mcgregor. The build-up alone would generate big bucks.
Meanwhile, the rumors of the middleweight division is that Robert Whittaker may fight Paulo Costa for the interim middleweight belt. Although there is no argument that Whittaker deserves to fight for the title, Paulo Costa is coming off a loss against the belt where he had no answer for Adesanya so he truly does not deserve an immediate shot for the title.
Israel Adesanya should not overlook Jan Blachowicz since Blachowicz has shown to have improved his striking and can knock Lightheavy weights out with his power. The Polish power is real even the body kicks left a mark in just in the first round of his fight against Dominic Reyes.
Overall, it is still a big fight and will show if Adesanya can dominate people that are heavier than him in the MMA game. Paulo Costa bulks up like a heavyweight during fight night but the level of Blachowicz in terms of complete martial arts is higher.
