UFC Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has confirmed that he will step up to light-heavyweight to face new champion Jan Blachowicz.
The Nigerian-born New Zealand-based fighter easily overcame the resilience of Paulo Costa at UFC 253 in September, sealing his second defence of the middleweight belt.
Blachowicz, on the other hand, won the title vacated by Jon Jones when he stopped Dominick Reyes earlier this month.
And now Adesanya has admitted that he will finally make the step up in weight class to fight Blachowicz.
He told Submission Radio: “‘It’s official. I guess Dana broke the news, so yeah, I’m going up to 205, and I’m gonna snatch that 205 strap. Respectfully.”
I have heard that Israel Adesanya wants to face me next. No problem, If you are ready to fight in March, let's do this. Prepare for a some fireworks guys 💥👊#LegendaryPolishPower
— Jan Blachowicz (@JanBlachowicz) October 29, 2020
He continued: “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.
“And like, 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. 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 deliver that power somehow, you have to get it to the target. I’m not the easiest target to hit.”
