Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is set to face Jan Blachowicz. ‘The Last Stylebender’ put on a fantastic display in his last outing when he dismantled unbeaten Paulo Costa in two rounds at UFC 253. Following the fight, Adesanya said he wanted the winner of Robert Whittaker vs Jared Cannonier.
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However, Dana White stated that ‘The Reaper’ was not interested in fighting for the title. Hence the UFC allowed ‘The Last Stylebender’ to move up and fight the newly crowned Jan Blachowicz. The move has been met with equal amounts of criticism and support from the MMA community.
Read: BREAKING: Dominick Reyes vs Jiri Prochazka targeted for February 27th main event
Jiri Prochazka gives his thoughts on Israel Adesanya moving up in weight
In an interview, with the South China morning post, Prochazka gave his thoughts on Adesanya’s imminent move to light heavyweight.
He said, “[Adesanya] must be much more careful because in our division the punches are more dangerous than in the 84 kilograms, in the middleweight. [Adesanya] is the champ at 84kg,” he said. “Like [Conor] McGregor, he was the champ in one division and jumped to another division and fought with another champ. So I think everything is correct.”Prochazka continued, “If somebody is the champ, I think he can fight with another champ. That’s the simple rule so I understand that. And I am looking forward for [having] him in our division.”
The former Rizin champion made a stellar UFC debut last year. He knocked out former title challenger Volkan Oezdemir in the second round of their fight, to announce his arrival.
His second test in the UFC will perhaps be his biggest to date. ‘Denisa‘ will take on former two-time title challenger Dominick Reyes who just fought for the title against Jan Blachowicz last year.
The fight will be an excellent opportunity for Prochazka to prove himself against a tough opponent at 205-pounds.
The light heavyweight division is buzzing with exciting young talent at the moment and if ‘Stylebender’ was to secure a win and stay at light heavyweight there are a lot of potentially interesting fights awaiting him.
What do you make of Prochazka’s warning? Will Adesanya be caught out by the power difference between middleweight and light heavyweight?
