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What’s the Future for Israel Adesanya – Legacy at Middleweight or Double Champ at Light Heavyweight

Published 09/27/2020, 3:09 PM EDT

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After the main event of UFC 253, it is safe to say that Israel Adesanya is a level above the competition at middleweight. Not only did he derail Paulo Costa’s hype train, but he also made it look as if the Brazilian didn’t belong in there. After such a dominant outing, we look at what’s next for the middleweight kingpin.

Coming into the fight, it was Adesanya’s technique vs Costa’s volume and power. The former executed a perfect game plan of neutralizing his opponent. The Nigerian born-Kiwi maintained the distance and chopped Costa’s legs from the outside. He paid no heed to the taunting from his opponent. Moreover, he pounced at the first opening that he saw to close out the fight.

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Time and again, Adesanya has talked about how Anderson Silva cleared the division about a decade ago. A striker just like Silva, it isn’t hard to gauge that Israel wants to rule the division for a long, long time.

However, the present-day era of mixed martial arts is that of double champs. It seems that fighters are just not satisfied with a single belt. They are willing to venture into uncharted weight classes for the legacy and the money that comes along with it. Therefore, it isn’t hard to imagine ‘The Last Stylebender’ moving up a weight class soon.

Is a light heavyweight division without Jon Jones appealing enough for Israel Adesanya?

Adesanya has often fiddled with the idea of moving up. However, every time he did this, it was only because he had a beef with the long time 205-pound heavyweight champ Jon Jones. However, ‘Bones’ is no longer at the helm of the light heavyweight division.

Adesanya’s demolition of Costa was preceded by the crowning of a new light heavyweight champ – Jan Blachowicz.

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Blachowicz showed that he possesses immense power in his gloves and has years of fighting experience under the belt. He may not possess the same threat as Jones does, but Adesanya will be at a significant size disadvantage if he goes up and fights the Polish powerhouse.

The return of Jon Jones at light heavyweight is a possibility. However, as long as we are speculating along those lines, we have to factor in Jones’ own ambition of a second belt. After relinquishing the 205-pound gold, Jones hinted that he will move to heavyweight in search of another title. If the same happens to be true, imagining a fight between Jones and Adesanya would be rather tough.

What are the possible threats for Adesanya’s middleweight throne?

Adesanya may have had an easy outing against Costa, but the middleweight division has plenty of contenders waiting in the wings. There’s Jared Cannonier, who should have fought Adesanya in March in place of Costa. Then there’s Jack Hermansson, a slick submission artist, against whom ‘The Last Stylebender’ would have to unleash his grappling prowess.

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Not to forget the former champ Robert Whittaker, who is looking to get back in the groove to get his rematch with the City Kickboxing standout. All in all, if Adesanya wishes to come close to Anderson Silva’s title reign at middleweight, he will have to get in more title defenses under his belt.

Moreover, by the time Adesanya gets past all of them, there will be more up and coming hungry fighters making their way up towards a title shot.

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The incentive for Adesanya moving up is that the 205-pound isn’t the most dangerous division right now. However, his physique is a big question mark as far as a move up is concerned. There’s only so much deficit that between power and precision that the latter can cover. Once it goes beyond that, the odds of the smaller fighter, in this case, Adesanya, winning decreases exponentially.

Looking at his career trajectory, it easy to see that Israel Adesanya is shooting for greatness. When it’s all said and done, if the current middleweight champion wants to etch his name in UFC history, he will want to go up a weight class. However, the perfect time to do the same is not right now but in the near future.

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Written by:

Rishabh Singh

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Rishabh Singh is an MMA author at EssentiallySports since 2020. An engineer in the making, his love for combat sports began by watching Anderson Silva light people up inside the Octagon. When he isn't busy in his technical pursuits, he is an avid reader with a love for sports in general and sporting history in particular.
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