This Saturday night in one of the most stacked cards in recent memory we have four world champions competing for three world titles. In the main event, we have the matchup with the most at stake when middleweight kingpin Israel Adesanya moves up to challenge newly crowned 205-pound champ Jan Blachowicz.
CHAMP vs CHAMP.
🏆 @JanBlachowicz vs 🏆 @Stylebender is TWO DAYS away.
[ LIVE on #ESPNPlus PPV: https://t.co/RtY8CEQexC ] pic.twitter.com/bGLmO1s0g0
— UFC (@ufc) March 4, 2021
For a long time now every light heavyweight champion not named Jon Jones has lived in his shadow, but just last September Blachowicz did something that Jones couldn’t do, he finished Dominick Reyes inside of 2 rounds in their title fight. Reyes of course is best known for giving Jones arguably his toughest test to date in his split decision loss. Blachowicz himself plans on making more history Saturday whether most believe it will happen or not.
“I’m always the underdog and I always win the fight,” Blachowicz told MMA Fighting. “It’s really nice. I’m happy. I could be the underdog every time. Maybe after this fight when I win this fight, I believe I will win this fight, maybe after this fight people will start believing in me, respect me and that’s it. But anyway, I don’t care about this” Jan then also stated “He’s a good fighter, a really good fighter. He’s a champion, Nobody defeats him. 20-0 also so he is good, he has to be good but it’s time for 20-1. “I believe that I’m going to be the first one to beat him, and I believe I will do it.”
For the middleweight champ the circumstances are a little different, he enters this bout in nobody’s shadows as he is possibly the biggest star in the sport, with a perfect unbeaten record, flashy style, and brash personality. A win Saturday could send Adesanya to new levels not seen by many in the sports world.
Considering the interest shown whenever he fights, Adesanya is already one of the bigger draws in the UFC and he believes it’s only a matter of time before he’s sharing space with global superstars like Conor McGregor.
“It’s inevitable, But I just have to get used to it. I just have to accept it and not hide from the role that I’m in. Not hide from the platform that I’m on”
“Because a lot of people get to this spot and then they start to like ‘I’ve been here.’ What did Kanye West say? Y’all can have it back. Sometimes. But I just accept that it is what it is. I am who I am so I just run with it.”
Striking that can disable anyone's power 🤯
🏆 @Stylebender is a day away from chasing Champ Champ status. #UFC259 pic.twitter.com/hPjsQs7oQo
— UFC (@ufc) March 5, 2021
Adesanya enters the bout with an unbeaten professional MMA record of 20-0(9-0 UFC)
Blachowicz enters the bout with a professional MMA record of 27-8(10-5 UFC) and is currently riding a 4 fight winning streak.
My prediction: Round 1 starts out with both champs feeling each other out with a few leg kicks here and there. For Adesanya as Blachowicz comes forward looking for a big power shot and lands a few good left hands before the bell rings in a close round. Round 2 things start to pick up as there are some big exchanges that see Adesanya getting the better as he moves in and out while also being cautious because of the polish power being returned by Blachowicz. Round 3 starts with Blachowicz getting a little more frustrated with his lack of clean shots landed on Adesanya as he starts to plot forward a little more with a little less defence, this opening will be enough for Adesanya as about 3 mins into round 3 he catches Blachowicz with a left jab, right cross combo that stumbles the Polish fighter right into a right head kick to put Blachowicz out and crown a new double champion Israel Adesanya.
