Nigerian born Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, is set to face the biggest fight of his career on March 6, when he moves up to the 205-pound division to face light heavyweight titleholder, Jan Blachowicz.
The fight will hold at Apex in Las Vegas, USA.
According to a member of Israel Adesanya camp, Adesanya is not leaving anything to chance in his bid to conquer the new weight division.
“Israel Adesanya is preparing very well as usual in his home base Auckland,” he said in a summary.
Adesanya’s move to the 205-pound division to face light heavyweight titleholder, Jan Blachowicz, will be a rare spectacle of champion versus champion. Adesanya goes out against the reigning UFC’ world light heavyweight titleholder, who will put his belt on the line against the middleweight king.
‘The Last Style Bender,’ as Adesanya is known, looks for a second mixed martial arts (MMA) diadem.
At UFC 253 back in December, Adesanya successfully protected his middleweight title against top contender, Paulo Costa of Brazil and, earlier on the same night, Blachowicz registered one of 2020’s biggest upsets when he knocked out former title challenger, Dominick Reyes to claim the vacant light heavyweight belt.
The UFC 259 main card will be streamed live on ESPN+ pay-per-view within the last hours of March 6. While Blachowicz holds a record of 27-8 MMA, and 10-5 UFC, Israel Adesanya has 20-0 MMA and 9-0 UFC.
A member of his camp said the Nigerian was optimistic about winning the fight to become a two-division champion. Adesanya shot to the limelight when he dismissed Robert Whittaker in a title unification fight at UFC 243. He is undefeated in 20 professional fights, including nine in a row in The Octagon. He won the interim middleweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236 in one of the best fights of 2019.