Adesanya vs Blachowicz: Last Style Bender set for biggest career showdown against Polish fighter

Nigerian-born, New Zealand-based UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, is intensifying preparation ahead of what has been described by pundits his biggest career test this weekend, March 6, when he rises to the 205-pound division to take on light heavyweight title champion, Jan Blachowicz from Poland. The UFC 259 fight will take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

According to sources in the camp, Israel Adesanya the fighter is not leaving any stone unturned ahead of the massive showdown with the Polish fighter in his attempt to come out victorious in the new weight division.

As usual, ‘The Last Style Bender has been preparing for the fight in his home base Auckland, North of New Zealand.

The Nigerian-born fighter’s move to a higher division – the 205-pound division to trade tackle with the light heavyweight champion, Jan Blachowicz, is indeed a rare spectacle of a champion of a division-facing champion of another division. In other words, it’s a battle of Champions in the UFC.

Current Ultimate Fighting Championship Light Heavyweight titleholder, who started his professional fighting career in 2007, will put his belt on the line against the New Zealander, also known as the middleweight king, while Betrivers will be banking on this match as the fans will be looking to claim some winnings with the odds available for the big showdown.

Adesanya’s big title showdown against Jan Maciej Błachowicz this coming weekend is an attempt by the New Zealander to claim a second mixed martial arts (MMA) crown.

Last year, at UFC 253, Israel Mobolaji Adesanya successfully defended his title in the middleweight division against top contender, 29-years-old Brazilian Paulo Costa and, the earlier same night, his opponent on the 6th of March Blachowicz recorded one of 2020’s biggest upsets in the sport, when he defeated former title challenger, American Dominick Reyes by Technical knockout to claim the vacant light heavyweight title.

While Polish fighter Blachowicz holds an MMA record of 27-8, and UFC record of 10-5, Nigeria-born Israel Adesanya holds MMA record 20-0, and UFC record 9-0.

Adesanya, who is highly optimistic about winning on the night and becoming a two-division champion, shot to the limelight when he defeated Australian-New Zealand MMA star Robert Whittaker in a title unification bout at UFC 243. The Nigerian remains undefeated in 20 fights since turning professional, including nine consecutive wins in The Octagon. Israel Adesanya won the interim middleweight belt with a unanimous decision win over American Kelvin Gastelum in one of 2019 best fights at UFC 236.

He then defended successfully his title twice in 2020, defeating Yoel Romero by unanimous decision and then taking away Paulo Costa at UFC 253.

After losing 4 out of his 5 fights between 2015 and 2017, the Polish has recorded 8-1 in his last 9 fights and has won 4 consecutive fights, during which he boasts stoppage victories over Corey Anderson and then Luke Rock hold on the road to his first title in the UFC.

Meanwhile, Israel Adesanya has responded to Paulo Costa’s latest excuse for his defeat at UFC 253 last year.

Costa, who lost in his bid to take Israel Adesanya’s middleweight crown with a second-round TKO lost in September 2020, recently disclosed that he drank wine the night before the fight to help him sleep.

That decision to get drunk ultimately backfired, according to Costa, because he went into the Octagon with Adesanya fight “hung over” and suggest he struggled from both hangover and a lack of appropriate sleep. 

Israel Adesanya found that excuse quite comical, he said “That’s just funny there are certain things I’ve done before some of my fights in the past where I learned my mistakes, but I went in and got my job done. Some people aren’t cut out for that lifestyle.”

For his part, Adesanya says he was somewhat puzzled as to why Costa would come out and make that statement now, after more than five months has passed since the fight.

Paulo Costa has pushed hard for a second fight in the aftermath of last year’s UFC 253. The South American Brazilian said he would “kill” Israel Adesanya if they engage in a rematch and is unhappy with how Adesanya has rubbed the result of UFC 253 in his face since the fight.