UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has shared his initial thoughts on his upcoming fight with light heavyweight champ Jan Blachowicz.
Adesanya and Blachowicz have recently expressed interest in fighting each other, and over the weekend, UFC President Dana White confirmed the matchup is going to happen.
Speaking on Submission Radio shortly thereafter, Adesanya reacted to this exciting challenge.
“It’s official,” Adesanya said. “I guess Dana broke the news, so yeah, I’m going up to 205, and I’m gonna snatch that 205 strap. Respectfully.”
After confirming the fight as official, Adesanya broke down the matchup with the light heavyweight champion, and explained why he prefers the challenge to a rematch with former UFC middleweight champ Robert Whittaker.
“With Jan, he’s a good fighter, he’s solid on the ground, he’s awkward on the feet, very dangerous, and he poses a lot of problems,” Adesanya said. “The Whittaker fight wouldn’t get me hard. This gets me hard. Like, this is like, alright, let’s go.”
“He’s dangerous on the ground, he’s awkward on the feet, got that Legendary Polish Power,” Adesanya added. “But yeah, everyone’s got power, right? I mean, it’s something I proved in my last fight. I told y’all. You have to delivery that power somehow, you have to get it to the target. I’m not the easiest target to hit”
Adesanya has long been linked to a fight with Jon Jones, who vacated the light heavyweight title earlier this year. While he claims his focus is currently glued to Blachowicz, he says it will be satisfying to do something Jones never did.
“It’s just a big f**k you to him, just to be like, I did something you couldn’t,” he said. “I mean, he cleared the division of the light heavyweight twice over and then started fighting recycled middleweights. So, don’t come at me talking about ‘move up in weight and fight’ when you can’t even do the same thing after over 10 years in the company. So, I’m actually about to do it. It’s a good fight for me to do it with.”
What do you think of these comments from Israel Adesanya?