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Jan Blachowicz Wants to Wait Until March to Defend UFC Title vs. Israel Adesanya
November 4, 2020
Jan Blachowicz is aiming for a March date for a possible fight with middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.
Blachowicz spoke about his plans Wednesday on Ariel Helwani's MMA Show and referenced the continued logistical problems posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I can fight in March with anybody," the UFC light heavyweight champion said. "It's no problem for me. But I cannot fight any earlier than March. If Israel wants to wait, no problem."
"In Poland right now, the situation is not so good, and we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, the day after tomorrow. Right now we train normally, but nobody knows what our government is preparing for. We'll see what's going to happen later."
Adesanya ran his record to a perfect 20-0 by earning a second-round TKO victory over Paulo Costa at UFC 253 in September. That was his second successful title defense after unifying the middleweight championship with his win over Robert Whittaker in 2019.
Now, he's setting his sights on gold in the light heavyweight division.
"All I know is f--king 2021, light heavyweight is mine," Adesanya said, per MMA Fighting's Damon Martin. "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."
UFC president Dana White also confirmed after UFC on ESPN+ 39 the promotion would allow Adesanya to move up a division.
Blachowicz is riding a four-fight winning streak. He captured the light heavyweight championship by defeating Dominick Reyes at UFC 253. Jon Jones vacated the title in May as part of his ongoing dispute with White and UFC.