Israel Adesanya will not put on any extra weight or muscle ahead of his upcoming UFC light heavyweight title fight against Jan Blachowicz.
Adesanya, the reigning UFC middleweight champion, is moving up to light heavyweight to take on Blachowicz in a champion vs. champion superfight that headlines UFC 259. With Blachowicz being one of the biggest and strongest light heavyweights, many thought Adesanya would maybe want to bulk up and put on some extra weight or muscle for this 205lbs fight. However, that isn’t the case.
According to Adesanya’s coach Eugene Bareman, Adesanya is going to enter the Octagon at UFC 259 on March 6 at his normal, walk-around weight, which is likely going to be in the low-200lbs range. Basically, he’s training the same but he just won’t have to cut as much weight as he would to get to 185lbs. Instead of going through a weight cut, Adesanya will come into this bout fresh without the drain of the sauna, though Bareman admits that Adesanya will be at a strength disadvantage.
“We’re not putting on weight. The science of putting on weight and moving up in weight isn’t going to be a factor in this fight because we’ve decided to come in at our normal, walk-around weight,” Bareman told 1 News.
“We’re hoping it gives us the advantages we need to win the fight rather than stack on muscle. I don’t think, with any amount of time or any amount of weight that Israel could put on, I don’t think he’s ever going to be stronger than Jan so we’ve decided, ‘Let’s try not to get stronger than Jan, let’s use that time to better-suited endeavors.’”
In contrast to Adesanya, his rival Jon Jones has spent the last six months bulking up for his move to the heavyweight division later this year, and many analysts thought Adesanya would do the same thing for his move to 205lbs. However, he won’t be putting on any extra weight, which may hint that he could be open to going back down to 185lbs in the future win-or-lose against Blachowicz. It will be interesting to see how his strength disadvantage plays against the champion Blachowicz, though on the other hand, he’ll have the advantages of being the faster and fresher fighter.
Do you think Israel Adesanya is making a mistake by not putting on any extra weight or muscle ahead of his 205lbs fight with Jan Blachowicz?