Dana White has revealed that Israel Adesanya will face Jan Blachowicz for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. The UFC President confirmed the champion vs champion bout last night at the post-event press conference.
“Listen, when the fight was over on ‘Fight Island,’ the last fight (at UFC 254), I was like, ‘I’m going to have to sit down with this kid (Adesanya) and convince him on why he needs to fight Whittaker,’” White said.
“Whittaker comes out and says he doesn’t want to fight him – craziest (expletive) I’ve ever seen. Yeah, there’s no arguing with Israel now. I thought Whittaker deserved the shot and Whittaker doesn’t want it, so yeah, we’ll let him do it.”
While no date has been announced for the fight yet, Blachowicz stated recently he’d be open to fighting again in March.
“I have heard that Israel Adesanya wants to face me next. No problem, If you are ready to fight in March, let’s do this. Prepare for a some fireworks guys,” Blachowicz Tweeted.
Adesanya has defended the middleweight belt twice this year. He defeated Paulo Costa at UFC 253 in September and Yoel Romero at UFC 248 in March. As for Blachowicz, he defeated Dominick Reyes, also at UFC 253, to win the vacant UFC light heavyweight championship.
