Dana White tells @bokamotoESPN
that @stylebender
will challenge @JanBlachowicz
for the UFC light heavyweight title in his next fight, with a date
and location still to be determined. pic.twitter.com/ENrcpECAyJ— ESPN MMA (@espnmma)
November 1, 2020
It appears that Israel
Adesanya will get the opportunity to become a two-division UFC
champ in the near future.
In an interview with ESPN, UFC president Dana White revealed that
Adesanya will move up to challenge reigning 205-pound king Jan
Blachowicz in his next Octagon appearance. Adesanya is coming
off a second-round technical knockout of Paulo Costa
to defend his middleweight crown at UFC 253 on Sept. 26.
“He and I met yesterday. Had a great time, had a great meeting,”
White said of Adesanya. “I was adamant on him fighting [Robert]
Whittaker for the title; it’s the thing that makes the most sense.
And then Whittaker comes out after the fight and says he doesn’t
want to fight him, which is wacky.
“But OK. Then he’ll move up to 205 and fight Jan.”
Whittaker seemed to solidify his case for a rematch with Adesanya
with a decision triumph against fellow contender Jared
Cannonier last weekend in the UFC 254 co-main event. While
Whittaker didn’t exactly say he wouldn’t fight Adesanya, he did say
he wanted to focus on the his family in the next few months because
he has a baby coming in January.
“He’s a tough fight man, but I’m stoked to fight him. He’s a hard
fight. He only looked better in his last fight – and the fact he
beat me once already,” Whittaker said at the UFC 254 post-fight
press conference. “But I feel I’ve got a couple tricks I can roll
out. I feel like I can play it differently. I know he’s trying to
do everything else. I’m not thinking about him. Maybe me and him
should not think about it for a little bit, let him go up to light
heavyweight…whatever he wants to do, it doesn’t bother me.”
That, however, was enough for White to make other plans for
Adesanya. The UFC president doesn’t have a timetable for booking
Adesanya vs. Blachowicz, however.
“Don’t know. That’s what he [Adesanya] wants. When the No. 1
contender doesn’t want to fight you, then yeah, we’ll do what he
wants,” White said.
White also confirmed that Adesanya will not have to relinquish the
middleweight crown to move up a division.
“I don’t think he has to vacate his belt to do it. Israel Adesanya
is a guy who wants to stay busy, wants to fight,” White said. “He
wants to challenge himself against the best.
“Let’s not forget: He fought Yoel Romero
when he didn’t have to. We didn’t want him to fight Yoel Romero; it
didn’t make sense. It made sense to him because he said ‘Everybody
thinks he’s one of the toughest dudes in the world and I want to
fight him.’ You know how much I love that stuff. Israel has really
made all the right choices in everything that he’s done. The kid
wants to fight the best and do things that nobody else has
done.”