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Israel Adesanya will bring his UFC middleweight title to the line against Paulo Costa at UFC 253.
Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is poised to make UFC history by beating light heavyweight king Jan Blachowicz in March, but it won’t be easy, according to Adesanya’s training partner Dan Hooker.
« The Last Stylebender « will face Blachowicz at UFC 259 on March 6, seeking to become the fifth simultaneous multi-division champion in UFC history. Adesanya hopes to hold both the light heavyweight and middleweight titles, an achievement no fighter has ever achieved in graduation.
Hooker, who ranks 6th in the UFC lightweight division, has trained with Adesanya for years and is admittedly nervous about the fight. Blachowicz is known for his « Polish power, » which kills Dominick Reyes and Luke Rockhold on their way to light heavyweight champion.
In a recent interview with Heavy, Hooker said that while Adesanya is nervous about Blachowicz’s power, performs best when he has a big challenge ahead of him.
« This fight makes me nervous, » said Hooker. “But every time I feel like this, [Adesanya] is doing his best, which is the funniest. The other two times I felt this way was when he fought Derek Brunson and Rob Whittaker. [They were] the other two times I said, « Oh man, he’s about to have a big fight or he’s about to have a dog fight here. » It will bring out the best in him when you present a great test of him or a great challenge in front of him. Then it shines and then it does an excellent job. «
» Well, it’s hard because this fight definitely makes me nervous, « he continued. » [Blachowicz] is a big boy. He hits hard and is a really strong striker. I’m excited to do that see, but at the same time I’m incredibly nervous. «
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Hooker hopes to place himself in the easy title discussion with a big win against Michael Chandler at UFC 257 on Saturday. January 23rd marks Chandler’s first fight in the UFC after leaving Bellator’s long-standing ascent, where he won the lightweight title multiple times. « The Hangman » is a fantastic metric for seeing where Chandler is in the Division passes, and conversely, gives Hooker the chance to make another big win. Whoever wins the fight on Saturday is one step closer to a UFC title shot and possibly a fight with MMA’s biggest star, Conor McGregor.
Although Chandler is not represented in the UFC, he is considered a top fighter and even takes on the role as a substitute for the UFC 254 fight between lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje.
The hangman told Heavy that a win over Chandler would be a massive win for him. He also said a lot of the top 5 lightweights didn’t want to fight Chandler because it was too risky.
« The only reason I’m here to fight this fight is because the other guys didn’t want to take the risk, « said Hooker. « You don’t want to take the risk. You don’t want to be on this huge map to fight against the unknown and against the new man.
» And this is a sport between risk and reward. I feel like I do took the risk and that guarantees the same reward Chandler would get if he succeeded. They talk about him with a title shot. So I want the same reward.
« I can feel it. I have a feeling that only great things emerge from this struggle. «
Ref: https://heavy.com
