MMAJunkie<\/a>):<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019ll lap the (middleweight) division again, and then I\u2019ll go back up at some point just for my own \u2013 maybe a little bit of ego, but yeah, just because I can do it. It doesn\u2019t have to be for the belt. Right now, other Paradigm (Sports) guy Jiri\u2019s (Prochazka) got the belt, so let him do his thing. I just like testing myself. Again, there\u2019s heavyweight. I\u2019m not saying I can beat every 205 guy or every f**king heavyweight, but they\u2019ll have problems with me. And yeah, there\u2019ll be times when (coach) Eugene (Bareman) might say, \u2018Take that guy out.\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018Who? What? All right, bet.\u2019 And I\u2019ll take them out.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nIt was back in March of 2021 at UFC 259 that Adesanya lost his one and only fight in the Octagon against then champion Jan Blachowicz (29-9 MMA) in the light heavyweight main event.<\/p>\n
Adesanya, 33, is the betting favourite going into this weekend, but many believe this could be his most challenging test to date.<\/p>\n
Who are you betting on this weekend? Would you like to see ‘The Last Stylebender’ make a return to light heavyweight status or make a debut at heavyweight in the future?<\/p>\n
Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel Adesanya has announced plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281. UFC 281 features Israel Adesanya (23-1 MMA) vs Alex Pereira (6-1 MMA) in the middleweight main event tomorrow, Saturday, November 12th at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The title is on the line and Adesanya is confident he will retain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54491,"featured_media":378560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[39449,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Israel Adesanya announces plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281 | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has announced plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Israel Adesanya announces plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281 | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has announced plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-11T21:45:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jan-Blachowicz-Israel-Adesanya-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Susan Cox\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Susan Cox\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Susan Cox\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/efaaf02455521c802ef054fe6875f60f\"},\"headline\":\"Israel Adesanya announces plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-11T21:45:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-11T21:45:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/\"},\"wordCount\":343,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Israel Adesanya\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2022\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/\",\"name\":\"Israel Adesanya announces plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281 | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-11T21:45:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-11T21:45:55+00:00\",\"description\":\"Current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has announced plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"UFC\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Israel Adesanya announces plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/efaaf02455521c802ef054fe6875f60f\",\"name\":\"Susan Cox\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/susan-cox\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Israel Adesanya announces plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281 | BJPenn.com","description":"Current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has announced plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Israel Adesanya announces plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281 | BJPenn.com","og_description":"Current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has announced plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2022-11-11T21:45:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jan-Blachowicz-Israel-Adesanya-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Susan Cox","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Susan Cox","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/"},"author":{"name":"Susan Cox","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/efaaf02455521c802ef054fe6875f60f"},"headline":"Israel Adesanya announces plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281","datePublished":"2022-11-11T21:45:55+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-11T21:45:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/"},"wordCount":343,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Israel Adesanya","UFC"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2022","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/","name":"Israel Adesanya announces plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281 | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-11-11T21:45:55+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-11T21:45:55+00:00","description":"Current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has announced plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-announces-plans-of-returning-to-light-heavyweight-after-ufc-281\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"UFC","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Israel Adesanya announces plans of returning to light heavyweight after UFC 281"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/efaaf02455521c802ef054fe6875f60f","name":"Susan Cox","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/susan-cox\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462835"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54491"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}