Nigerian boxer and MMA superstar Israel Adesanya will fight for the UFC light-heavyweight title next, Dana White confirms.
Recall that Adesanya, 31, defended his UFC middleweight title at UFC 253 when he destroyed Paulo Costa.
He eyed a fight against Jared Cannonier but he failed to get past Robert Whittaker at UFC 254.
Instead, ‘The Last Stylebender’ will now move up in weight to challenge UFC light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz.
Champ squared.
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) October 31, 2020
The UFC president revealed the middleweight king’s next fight following Saturday’s event.
When asked if Adesanya will face Blachowicz next, he replied: “Yes!”
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The Last @Stylebender is heading to 205lbs!@DanaWhite confirms that Israel Adesanya will fight Jan Blachowicz for the light-heavyweight title in 2021. pic.twitter.com/5moJ9wrfng
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) November 1, 2020
White continued: “Listen when the fight was over on Fight Island, the last fight, I was like I’m going to have to sit down with this kid and convince him on why he needs to fight [Robert] Whittaker.
“Whittaker comes out and says he doesn’t want to fight him. Craziest sh*t I’ve ever seen.
“So, there’s no arguing with Israel now. I thought Whittaker deserved the shot and Whittaker doesn’t want it so we’ll let him do it.”
Just the other day, the Polish powerhouse teased a potential clash with the Nigerian-born Kiwi.
“I have heard that Israel Adesanya wants to face me next,” he tweeted.
“No problem, If you are ready to fight in March, let’s do this. Prepare for a some fireworks guy.”
https://twitter.com/JanBlachowicz/status/1321862340623638532?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1321862340623638532%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-35206581931137509026.ampproject.net%2F2010132225003%2Fframe.html
