Dana White: Israel Adesanya to Challenge Jan Blachowicz for LHW Title in Next UFC Bout

Dana White tells @bokamotoESPN that @stylebender will challenge @JanBlachowicz for the UFC light heavyweight title in his next fight, with a date and location still to be determined. pic.twitter.com/ENrcpECAyJ

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) November 1, 2020

It appears that Israel Adesanya will get the opportunity to become a two-division UFC champ in the near future.

In an interview with ESPN, UFC president Dana White revealed that Adesanya will move up to challenge reigning 205-pound king Jan Blachowicz in his next Octagon appearance. Adesanya is coming off a second-round technical knockout of Paulo Costa to defend his middleweight crown at UFC 253 on Sept. 26.

“He and I met yesterday. Had a great time, had a great meeting,” White said of Adesanya. “I was adamant on him fighting [Robert] Whittaker for the title; it’s the thing that makes the most sense. And then Whittaker comes out after the fight and says he doesn’t want to fight him, which is wacky.

“But OK. Then he’ll move up to 205 and fight Jan.”

Whittaker seemed to solidify his case for a rematch with Adesanya with a decision triumph against fellow contender Jared Cannonier last weekend in the UFC 254 co-main event. While Whittaker didn’t exactly say he wouldn’t fight Adesanya, he did say he wanted to focus on the his family in the next few months because he has a baby coming in January.

“He’s a tough fight man, but I’m stoked to fight him. He’s a hard fight. He only looked better in his last fight – and the fact he beat me once already,” Whittaker said at the UFC 254 post-fight press conference. “But I feel I’ve got a couple tricks I can roll out. I feel like I can play it differently. I know he’s trying to do everything else. I’m not thinking about him. Maybe me and him should not think about it for a little bit, let him go up to light heavyweight…whatever he wants to do, it doesn’t bother me.”

That, however, was enough for White to make other plans for Adesanya. The UFC president doesn’t have a timetable for booking Adesanya vs. Blachowicz, however.

“Don’t know. That’s what he [Adesanya] wants. When the No. 1 contender doesn’t want to fight you, then yeah, we’ll do what he wants,” White said.

White also confirmed that Adesanya will not have to relinquish the middleweight crown to move up a division.

“I don’t think he has to vacate his belt to do it. Israel Adesanya is a guy who wants to stay busy, wants to fight,” White said. “He wants to challenge himself against the best.

“Let’s not forget: He fought Yoel Romero when he didn’t have to. We didn’t want him to fight Yoel Romero; it didn’t make sense. It made sense to him because he said ‘Everybody thinks he’s one of the toughest dudes in the world and I want to fight him.’ You know how much I love that stuff. Israel has really made all the right choices in everything that he’s done. The kid wants to fight the best and do things that nobody else has done.”