Getty Israel Adesanya
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz teased the possibility of himself dropping down to 185 pounds to rematch middleweight king Israel Adesanya.
Blachowicz and “The Last Stylebender” met in March 2021 at UFC 259 when the Polish fighter was the 205-pound champion. The light heavyweight title fight went all five rounds and as history has it, Blachowicz derailed Adesanya’s dream of becoming a simultaneous two-division champion by earning a unanimous decision win.
Adesanya dropped back down to middleweight after the loss and he’s rattled off three title defenses in a row, beating Marvin Vettori, Robert Whittaker and most recently, Jared Cannonier. On the other end, Blachowicz lost his strap in his next outing, losing to Glover Texeira via second-round submission.
He bounced back in May by besting Aleksandar Rakic, who suffered a knee injury in the third round of their UFC on ESPN 36 clash. Blachowicz has been clear that he wants a title shot against now-champ Jiri Prochazka. But, “Denisa” recently came out and shared he wants to give the man he took the belt from, Teixeira, an immediate rematch.
So, Blachowicz told Ariel Helwani on Wednesday’s “The MMA Hour” that he would move to middleweight and challenge Adesanya if given the opportunity.
“Maybe this is the reason that now [Adesanya] will be very careful in the fights to not make any mistakes,” Blachowicz said via MMA Mania. “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. When I was a fighter in Muay Thai, it was 91 kilos or [200 pounds]. For a title, I can sacrifice myself a little bit. Why not? I will do it.”
Adesanya Will Likely Fight Alex Pereira Next
The Last Stylebender notched his fifth title defense earlier this month at UFC 276 when he got his hand raised over Cannonier in Las Vegas, Nevada. And for his sixth, he’ll likely draw former two-division Glory champion Alex Pereira, the fighter who has beaten Adesanya twice in kickboxing.
“Poatan” competed in his third UFC bout on the same card, and he starched then-No. 4-ranked middleweight Sean Strickland in the first round via a brutal KO.
“This isn’t kickboxing, this is mixed martial arts,” Adesanya said during a pre-fight press conference via MMA Fighting. “These ain’t big pillow gloves, these are four-ounce deadly weapons that I can’t wait to drive through his face after I go through Jared Cannonier.”
And while speaking with Joe Rogan inside the Octagon after his International Fight Week victory, Adesanya said (h/t Bleacher Report): “We all know who is next: Poatan. Trust me, the first time I told you, it was an error on my part, spamming the right hand. But that was in kickboxing. …But like I said at the press conference: next time I’ll put you on skates. You’re gonna get frozen like Elsa.”
Adesanya Has a ‘Date’ Already for the Pereira Fight
In a video that was recently dropped on Adesanya’s “FREESTYLEBENDER” YouTube channel, The Last Stylebender said he already had a date in mind to fight Pereira.
“Yes. When do I want it? We’ve got a date,” Adesanya said via MMA Mania. “We’ve already sussed it out, we’re already planning, we’re sussed with it.”
During the UFC 276 post-fight press conference, Pereira also confirmed his willingness to fight Adesanya next.