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Luke Rockhold has made his pick for the UFC 259 fight between Israel Adesanya and Jan Blachowicz.
Having fought the Polish champion before, Luke Rockhold has a clear idea of what Jan Blachowicz is capable of and how he fights inside the octagon. Ahead of Blachowicz's first defense of his light heavyweight belt against middleweight king Israel Adesanya, Luke Rockhold gave his opinion on who he thinks will come out as the winner of the bout.
Speaking to Submission Radio, Luke Rockhold stated that he believes Israel Adesanya will be able to go through Jan Blachowicz and become a two-division champion as he is aiming to. While explaining why his pick is Israel Adesanya, Luke Rockhold also brought up his own fight with Jan Blachowicz and said how the light heavyweight champ is not as "clean and confident" as he needs to be.
"I like Israel in the fight. Jan's got a very herky-jerky style. I rushed the fight. I thought he was more visible, he wasn't as clean and confident as I thought he would be. I just put myself into a takedown situation when I don't normally do, I thought I could just finish the fight pretty easily and I wasn't used to his size and strength and over-committed to a takedown and juiced my arms up, and by the time I got out of the clinch, I was just like, you know, it was just watered down. I had all the blood in my arms and I couldn't get off like I should."
"If I was more patient and just waited for my shots and my opportunities, I think it would be a much different fight. And I see Israel's just this confidence, and I think he's peaking right now. I think he'll be more patient and I think he'll see Jan and I think he'll find his mark more often than not."
A couple of fights before Jan Blachowicz faced Dominick Reyes for the light heavyweight belt vacated by Jon Jones, he fought Luke Rockhold at UFC 239 and defeated him by a second round knockout via punches.
Also read: How much will UFC 259: Jan Blachowicz vs. Israel Adesanya cost to purchase?
Israel Adesanya is the favorite ahead of UFC 259
Luke Rockhold is not the only one to have picked Israel Adesanya as the clear winner of UFC 259. Despite being smaller in size and newer to the division, Israel Adesanya opened as the favorite according to several betting websites.
Several other MMA fighters have also gone with Israel Adesanya. Among others, former two-weight champ Henry Cejudo is also of the same opinion. Recently speaking to Helen Yee, he said that he believes Israel Adesanya is going to knock out the 'Polish Nightmare'.
