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UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is confident of his desire to move up to the light heavyweight division again. He suffered his first career loss against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259.
In the lead-up to the fight, one of the major factors weighing the odds in favor of Jan Blachowicz was his power. The legendary 'Polish Power' is quite a real thing in the world of MMA.
However, Israel Adesanya ended up lasting the entire five rounds. He revealed in an interview with Newstalk ZB that he did feel the Polish power, but he ate the shots and went on. Adesanya said:
"Everyone is saying [about Jan Blachowicz], 'Man, the Polish Power. When he [Izzy] gets touched...'. I got touched with the Polish power. It's delicious."
The interviewer asked Adesanya whether there was a parameter besides weight that hampered his chance at winning. In response, Israel Adesanya said:
"I can [beat bigger fighters], I have, many times. I did it in kickboxing, I did it in boxing, and I will do it in MMA. Just, that fight [against Jan Blachowicz], I fought a guy who respected me, who respected my game, even as a middleweight. He admitted it, but he played it quite safe in the later rounds. He knew, he even said I hit a lot harder than people think, as a light heavyweight."
Check out the interview here:
A recap of Israel Adesanya vs Jan Blachowicz
Israel Adesanya attempted to move up a weight class to challenge for the light heavyweight title against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259 in March 2021.
The stage for Blachowicz's first title defense was grand as he fought an undefeated star in Israel Adesanya.
Jan Blachowicz put on a dominant performance. While the two went toe-to-toe for the first few rounds, Jan Blachowicz began adding takedowns to the mix later on.
On the feet, Jan Blachowicz displayed exceptional skills, significantly outstriking Israel Adesanya by 184/276 to 99/182.
Blachowicz mixed in takedowns and his weight advantage allowed him to keep Adesanya on the ground. The fight went on for the entirety of five rounds.
All three judges scored the contest 49-46 in favor of Jan Blachowicz.
Had the then-undefeated Israel Adesanya won the fight, he would have joined the likes of Amanda Nunes, Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier and Henry Cejudo on the list of UFC's champ-champs. However, Jan Blachowicz came out with a brilliant gameplan and executed it with perfection to bag a unanimous decision victory.
