Israel Adesanya feels Jan Blachowicz will be a tougher opponent than Paulo Costa

Israel Adesanya feels Jan Blachowicz will be a tougher opponent than Paulo Costa

Israel Adesanya and Jan Blachowicz

Israel Adesanya

Israel Adesanya is definitely the hottest property in the UFC right now. Recently, the Nigerian-born New Zealander put off Paulo Costa who was on his high horse, at UFC 253. He completely dominated the Brazilian, thus, taming the entire middleweight division. Now, the “Last Stylebender” has got his sights set on the light heavyweight division, as he is expected to face newly crowned light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz in a title bout.

Jan, on the other hand, has had an unimaginably eventful year. Jon Jones was the light heavyweight champion, even in the month of March. Fortunately for Jan Blachowicz, Jon Jones relinquished his title, as he decided to move to the heavyweight division. This gave Jan a shot at the title against the man who came very close to defeating Jon Jones, Dominick Reyes. The Pole made maximum use of his opportunity and he ‘devastated’ Dominick Reyes to win the light heavyweight championship. Speaking of this Israel Adesanya said in an interview that Jan was a totally different fighter when compared to his equally hard-hitting previous opponent.(Paulo Costa)

“Jan has his awkward style of striking which is something I will definitely take care of” – Israel Adesanya

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Speaking to “TheMacLife”, Adesanya said, “Jan has his awkward style of striking which is something I will definitely take care of, me and my teammate ‘Blood Diamond’, who’s even more awkward. So, I will have some more work for that. He’s also got his wrestling or grappling, you might get to see more of my ground game.”

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He also added saying, “You have seen some of my ground game against Kelvin Gastelum, Brad Tavares and the Italian fight (Marvin Vettori). I ‘X-swept’ him and tried to get on top, but you might see a little bit more this fight. You got to be able to get me first, I just love striking, but I also do love grappling. Although, I only use it when I need to.”

Since Adesanya is moving to uncharted waters, will he be able to find his feet immediately, just like the way he fit into the UFC seamlessly?

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