Dana White has urged Israel Adesanya to return to the middleweight division and focus on dominating at 185 pounds after his bid to become a two-weight champion was brought to an abrupt end at UFC 259.
Adesanya has enjoyed a meteoric rise in MMA and there were plenty believing he could add to his impressive resume stepping up to light-heavyweight against Jan Blachowicz.
But after Adesanya lost on points to suffer his first career defeat, White has encouraged him to get back to what he knows and, for the time being at least, forget about a heavyweight Superfight against rival Jon Jones.
‘Jon Jones used to be at that weight class,’ White said. ‘Jon’s going to be so much bigger than Israel. I think Israel should focus on middleweight right now.
‘Get back, keep doing what he does in the middleweight division.’
Adesanya has ripped through the middleweight fighting class and took the undisputed crown in 2019, giving him the belief he could join the exclusive ‘champ champ’ club.
The 31-year-old insisted he left the octagon with no regrets the following defeat by Blachowicz but agreed a return to 185 makes the most sense in the short term.
‘Right now, I’ve got a division I’ve got to dominate,’ Adesanya said.
‘I know what they’re thinking, “Oh, that’s it, you’ve just got to take him down and then you’ve got him.” All right, cool, bet, but I’ll remind them again why I’m the king of 185.’
White had no qualms with the result at UFC 259 but did admit that the quality of judging in the UFC is a ‘worry’.
The five-round scheduled contest went the distance and 38-year-old Blachowicz was awarded a unanimous points victory by the judges, who scored the contest 49-45, 49-45 and 49-46 in the Pole’s favour.
