Israel Adesanya's next fight: When is it and who is he fighting?
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will return to the Octagon on 6th March 2021. Adesanya is making a leap to the light heavyweight division and will be challenging the current champion Jan Blachowicz for the belt. The matchup will headline the UFC 259 pay-per-view card almost a month from now.
UFC president Dana White recently announced that the fight will take place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. If Adesanya emerges victorious, he will be inducted into the rare class of fighters who have held two UFC belts simultaneously. The Last Stylebender conquered the middleweight division in 2019 and has since defended his strap against Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa.
At UFC 253, Israel Adesanya displayed a striking masterclass against Paulo 'The Eraser' Costa. On the same card, in the co-main event, Jan Blachowicz secured the vacant light heavyweight title via a TKO victory over Dominick Reyes.
The speculation surrounding Israel Adesanya's move up to light heavyweight started doing the rounds as UFC 253 came to its conclusion. Adesanya is currently one of the biggest superstars in the UFC and so, securing two titles simultaneously will etch his name in history among other elite athletes like Conor McGregor and Daniel Cormier.
In an interview with BT Sport, Dana White expressed his admiration for Israel Adesanya's aspirations to conquer the light heavyweight division as well.
"That kid (Israel Adesanya) wants to go down as the greatest to ever to do it, and I love his plan. I don't want to lay it out for you because I don't think it's my place to do it, we'll let him do that. But yeah, that kid is looking to be the best to ever do it and he has got a pretty cool plan," said Dana White
Which other title fights are featured on the UFC 259 card?
Along with the Light Heavyweight title, the Bantamweight and Women's Featherweight title will also be on the line come March 6th at UFC 259.
Petr Yan will go against Aljamain Sterling for his first title defense. The buzz surrounding this matchup is going through the roof as the two combatants have been going back-and-forth on Twitter for months now.
Women's Featherweight queen Amanda Nunes will face former Invicta FC champion Megan Anderson. Anderson is currently riding a two-fight winning streak in the UFC and will seek to capture the title in the co-main event at UFC 259.