Israel Adesanya not planning on bulking up for light heavyweight title fight

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya isn’t planning to pack on any extra muscle for his upcoming light heavyweight title superfight with Jan Blachowicz.

Adesanya and Blachowicz don’t yet have a date for their collision, but UFC President Dana White has confirmed the fight is happening, and it’s already generating massive buzz.

Speaking to MMA Fighting recently, Adesanya divulged that he doesn’t plan on bulking up for this division change, and that he believes doing so is a mistake.

“All I know is f**king 2021, light heavyweight is mine,” Adesanya said. “I’ll take the belt just to double champ it like some of the other fighters have. [Conor] McGregor, D.C. (Daniel Cormier), I like the look of two gold belts on my shoulder. I already did it with my interim belt and my unified undisputed belt when I was the double interim champ.

“But just to flex with that 205 belt as well, and I don’t even have to do much to do it,” Adesanya added. “I just stay the same frame that I am. I don’t have to pack muscle like these guys are doing, like Jon [Jones] is doing. They’re making grave mistakes. It will come back to bite them in the ass when it’s time.”

If Adesanya wins the UFC light heavyweight title, do not expect that to put an end to his time in the middleweight division. From the sounds of it, he intends to defend both titles.

“No, middleweight’s mine,” Adesanya said. “Middleweight is my perfect weight class. So when I do 205, I’ll just hold up that division once in a while that’s all. I’ll defend my belt when it’s time.

“That’s all down the line,” Adesanya said about reigning as a two-division champion. “I deal with things as they come. I plan for the future, but at the same time, there’s so many variables in this game. You deal with things as they come.”

Do you think Israel Adesanya will become a two-division UFC champion?