Israel Adesanya is no longer the undefeated beacon of the UFC. While he is still a massive name, his hype has been seriously affected by his loss to Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259. However, it wasn’t his performance that made him look out of place- it was his strategy heading into the fight.

HIGHLIGHTS: Jan Blachowicz Defeats Israel Adesanya in Close Five-Round Battle at UFC 259

Adesanya chose not to bulk up for the fight at 205 pounds and weighed in at 200.5 pounds the day before the fight. The size difference between him and Jan Blachowicz, a fighter that walks around at 230 pounds, was too much to overcome. Blachowicz out-wrestled Izzy when it mattered and won the bout, but the champion believes it could have been different if Izzy had put on the pounds.

“I think so, yes. We see when I take him down in third round, he cannot stand up. Same in the last round. In the beginning of the five, he was tricky, I couldn’t catch him. I don’t know, maybe if he was bigger he’d be much slower. So maybe then I can grab him faster and easier. So nobody knows.

“Maybe in the future, if we have rematch and he’s gonna be bigger, we will see.”

Israel Adesanya: Should he return to Light Heavyweight?

The issue that Israel Adesanya will eventually have to face is a possible return to the division. If he ends up delivering on his promise of clearing out the Middleweight division, he will have nowhere to go but the 205-pound division. Unless he can somehow cut 15 pounds to go down to 170, the only division Adesanya can move to is Light Heavyweight.

However, Izzy may have to take the Jon Jones approach of switching weight classes. Izzy’s power and size did not match up to Jan well. While his chin proved it can take the shots of a 205-pound fighter, his strikes didn’t look like ones that could knock out the same opponent.

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Adesanya going back to Light Heavyweight is inevitable. However, if he chooses to dedicate time to changing his body and becoming a bigger fighter, he could easily compete at the championship level.