The Takedown | UFC: Israel Adesanya’s big gamble failed to pay off – and gives Jon Jones added ammunition
- Middleweight champ ‘dared to be great’ but snap call to move up without bulking up shatters his invincible aura
- Jones has instead been steadily piling on muscle for his switch to heavyweight, and could get last laugh in fizzling feud with Adesanya
Other than seeing his “0” finally go, the previously-undefeated Israel Adesanya didn’t lose a hell of a lot in his unanimous decision defeat by Jan Blachowicz last weekend. But he certainly didn’t gain much either.
Blachowicz took that idea and literally sat on it, three times, slogging out side control and scoring a lot of boring points in the process – and showing there’s a reason why weight classes exist in MMA.
“The Last Stylebender” isn’t going back to the drawing board, rather back down to rule middleweight “with my black iron fist” and take his frustrations out on that division.
It’s a smart move for the 31-year-old Nigerian-Kiwi (20-1), who still has plenty of contenders lining up at 185 pounds. But his coach Eugene Bareman told Submission Radio this week there are just two fights left there that interest them.
“There’s Darren Till. Darren Till needs to win. And Robert Whittaker because he’s one of our brethren, he’s one of our brothers, he’s a Kiwi,” the City Kick-Boxing head coach said.
