Israel Adesanya Chases History Against Light Heavyweight Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259

Source: MMA Fighting

On March 6th, Middleweight Champ Israel Adesanya will move up to 205 lbs to take on Light Heavyweight Champ Jan Blachowicz. In doing so, he will be making an attempt to become the fifth fighter in UFC history to hold a belt in two divisions concurrently. The Last Stylebender will look to join Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes, and Henry Cejudo in the history books by moving up a weight class.

UFC 259 is already a stacked card with three title fights on the schedule. The main event will see Adesanya take on Blachowicz for the light heavyweight belt. The last time both fighters fought was September 26 on fight island during UFC 253. That night, Jan knocked out Domonic Reyes to win the vacant light heavyweight title, while Adesanya defended his belt against Paulo Costa in a dominant knockout win.

While Adesanya brings speed and precision to his stand-up game, he has yet to showcase much of his grappling skills, a sentiment echoed by former UFC champ Henry Cejudo in an interview with Helen Yee.

“I like him, he’s a world champion. But he is not well-rounded yet. He hasn’t shown that yet…” Cejudo said. “Let me see your wrestling; let me see your jiu-jitsu.”

This matchup will truly be one of power vs speed if the fight manages to stay on its feet (in more ways than one), however, Jan appears to be set on taking the fight to the ground to test Adesanya’s ground game.

UFC 259 will take place on Saturday, March 6 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The card will feature a total of three title fights capped off with the Adesanya vs Blachowicz bout as the main event.