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UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya recently revealed that he is not interested in going up to the light heavyweight division in the near future.
'The Last Stylebender' faced Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259 in an attempt to become a double champion in the promotion. However, he failed to do so as Blachowicz retained his light heavyweight title and defeated Adesanya via unanimous decision.
In a recent interview with Niko Pajarillo of Fox Sports Australia, the Nigerian native stated that he has no plans of venturing into the light heavyweight division anytime soon and intends on focussing on dominating the middleweight division for now. He said:
"But 205 [lbs], that's down the line. That's not something I'm looking at right now and like...Let them enjoy themselves. Let them enjoy the new champion...I'm gonna dominate my realm at 185 [lbs]."
Adesanya also congratulated Jiri Prochazka for his recent title win in the 205 lbs division and went on to state that he is a fan of 'Denisa'.
" I'm happy for Jiri [Prochazka]. He is actually part of my management team and I like his style. I'm fan of the guy. So, let him enjoy his reign as a champ."
You can check out Israel Adesanya's full interview with Niko Pajarillo below:
Dana White praises Israel Adesanya's competitive spirit
In a recent interaction with TheMacLife, UFC President Dana White was all praise for 'The Last Stylebender'. White appreciated Israel Adesanya's zeal for fighting and commended his showmanship.
Sharing his thoughts on the Nigerian-born Kiwi fighter, the UFC President said:
"You have Israel saying, 'Belt's great, love the belt, it's been great to me [but] I want to go in and put on exciting fights and I want to do fun stuff.' ... He wants to fight non-stop, he wants to, you know, he wants to pull off spectacular moves in the fight and all this stuff. What's more fun than that, man? What's cooler than that? I look forward to it."
You can check out Dana White's full interview with TheMacLife below:
Israel Adesanya last fought in a rematch against Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 with the middleweight title on the line. He once again established himself as the middleweight king by defeating Whittaker via unanimous decision in what was his fourth title defense.
'The Last Stylebender' is currently scheduled to take on Jared Cannonier at the main event of UFC 276 scheduled for July 2, 2022, at the T-Mobile Arena Las Vegas, United States.
