Israel Adesanya suffered the first loss of his professional MMA career after he dropped a unanimous decision loss against Jan Blachowicz for the UFC’s light-heavyweight championship. While Adesanya looked to dictate the pace of the fight, Blachowicz took the game away after he mixed his game and implement the ground game in championship rounds. Blachowicz controlled Adesanya for the better part of ten minutes in the fight that lasted the full five-rounds of 25 minutes.
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However, Israel Adesanya had his fair share of moments in the fight. The Stylebender was able to land several significant strikes on the Polish fighter. Additionally, he was able to withstand some clear shots from the Polish Power. Most notable was a lethal left hook that evidently troubled the Blachowicz. Here, take a look.
While Adesanya may not have won, he certainly did not disappoint in his light-heavyweight debut at 190 pounds against someone as dangerous as Jan Blachowicz. The Stylebender looked in great control leading into the fight in a different weight class. He maintained distance and was able to land several significant strikes on the Polish fighter. Be that as it may, Israel Adesanya is not undefeated anymore and the welterweight champion will go back to the drawing board as he targets his next middleweight title defense.
What’s next for Israel Adesanya?
Israel Adesanya has not lost on a single option despite the loss over Jan Blachowicz. He is still the undisputed champion of the middleweight division and will likely defend his championship belt against the winner of Robert Whittaker vs Paulo Costa.
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However, he has also expressed an interest in fighting former welterweight title challenger Darren Till should the opportunity arise. The middleweight division looks stacked right now. Additionally, the huge rise of fighters like Kevin Holland and Marvin Vettori has put the entire division on notice.
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Israel Adesanya is expected to go back to the drawing board and reassess what went wrong against Jan Blachowicz. Needless to say, he will be back again this year to defend his middleweight championship. Israel Adesanya is still arguably one of the greatest mixed martial artists in the history of MMA. Only time will tell what lies ahead for the middleweight champion, but one thing is for sure, he will return to the light-heavyweight division once again.
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