UFC: Israel Adesanya told to 'focus on middleweight' by Dana White

Defeated Israel Adesanya told by Dana White to ‘focus on middleweight’ and forget about a heavyweight superfight with rival Jon Jones after Jan Blachowicz inflicted his first career defeat at UFC 259

  • REPORT: Israel Adesanya’s step up in weight backfired against Jan Blachowicz
  • The middleweight king attempted to become a ‘champ champ’ at UFC 259
  • UFC chief Dana White has since advised Adesanya to ‘focus on middleweight’ 

Dana White has urged Israel Adesanya to return to the middleweight division and ‘focus’ on dominating at 185 pounds after his bid to become a two-weight champion was brought to an abrupt end at UFC 259.

Adesanya has enjoyed a meteoric rise in MMA and there were plenty believing he could add to his impressive resume stepping up to light-heavyweight against Jan Blachowicz.

But after losing on points to suffer his first career defeat, White has encouraged Adesanya to get back to what he knows and, for the time being at least, forget about a heavyweight superfight against rival Jon Jones. 

 Israel Adesanya (left) suffered his first career defeat after stepping up to light-heavyweight

 Adesanya has been urged to drop down to middleweight and continue to dominate at 185

 UFC boss Dana White feels Adesanya should forget about a heavyweight bout with Jon Jones

‘Jon Jones used to be at that weight class,’ White said. 

‘Jon’s going to be so much bigger than Israel. I think Israel should focus on middleweight right now. 

‘Get back, keep doing what he does in the middleweight division.’ 

Adesanya has ripped through the middleweight fighting class and took the undisputed crown in 2019, giving him the belief he could join the exclusive ‘champ champ’ club. 

The judges unanimously scored the fight the Pole’s way scoring the fight 49-45, 49-45, 49-46

The 31-year-old insisted he left the octagon with no regrets following defeat to Blachowicz but agreed a return to 185 makes the most sense in the short term.

‘Right now, I’ve got a division I’ve got to dominate,’ Adesanya said. 

‘I know what they’re thinking, “Oh, that’s it, you’ve just got to take him down and then you’ve got him.” All right, cool, bet, but I’ll remind them again why I’m the king of 185.’ 

White had no qualms with the result at UFC 259 but did admit that the quality of judging in the UFC is a ‘worry’.

 Jones (pictured) has a long-standing rivalry with Adesanya fuelling talk of a superfight

The five-round scheduled contest went the distance and 38-year-old Blachowicz was awarded a unanimous points victory by the judges, who scored the contest 49-45, 49-45 and 49-46 in the Pole’s favour. 

‘I think we can all agree, that fight wasn’t 4-1,’ White told reporters after the fight.

‘If anyone watched that fight and thought that was 4-1 you’re nuts, it was even going into the last round and Israel was winning the first half of the round, and then Jan took him down and won the fight in the second half of the round.

‘The only thing that makes that fight 4-1 are ridiculous 10-8 rounds, It’s a big problem with judging that needs to be fixed.’




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