Jan Blachowicz open to Israel Adesanya rematch only if he proves himself at 205
Jan Blachowicz, who goes for his second title defense at UFC 267, says his win over Israel Adesanya made people treat him "like a true champion."
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ABU DHABI – UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz can see himself crossing paths with Israel Adesanya again, but he has certain requirements in order for that to happen.
Blachowicz (28-8 MMA, 11-5 UFC) handed Adesanya his first-career loss when he defeated him by unanimous decision early this year at UFC 259, putting a halt to his quest of becoming dual champ. While Blachowicz isn’t ruling out a rematch with Adesanya, who’s still the UFC middleweight champ, he’d like to see him notch a few wins at 205 pounds first.
“Yes, why not?” Blachowicz told UFC Arabia. “But if he wants a rematch in 205, he needs to come back, win two or three fights with the top 10 and then with me.”
He continued, “He’s got everything to fight in 205, but we will see if he will come back or not. But, yeah, he’s got everything.”
Blachowicz wasn’t able to display his legendary Polish power against Adesanya (21-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) the way he’d like, but overall, he was happy with his performance. He showed off a complete game, landing multiple takedowns late to secure the win.
“I couldn’t catch him because he was very fast, slippery, and he knows how to move his head,” Blachowicz said. “That’s why I didn’t knock him out, but that was a great experience for me because I fought five rounds with a great kickboxer. Everybody thought I couldn’t fight against him in the standup, but I showed the world that I can, and I think my standup game was a little bit better than his, so it was good for me. After three rounds, I took him down, and I knew that he was going to be mine.”
He continued, “I beat him. I did what I had to do. I won the fight, and I think people gave me respect after the fight. They sent me a lot of messages on my social media, so I think I have a lot of respect right now. Not only from the fans, but also a lot of fighters sent me messages that I’m an inspiration to them, what I’ve done because you know how my career looks. I lost a couple of fights and then I’m the champion, I beat someone like Izzy, so I think people respect me, and they treat me like a true champion.”