When Jan Blachowicz captured the UFC light heavyweight title with a victory over Dominick Reyes, fighters were coming out of the woodwork to challenge the Polish power puncher, partly because he wasn’t Jon Jones, but mostly because Blachowicz has been an underdog in 13 of his UFC fights and never seems to get the respect he deserves.
Heck, even “Bones” was thinking about making his return to 205 pounds.
That may explain why reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was in such a hurry to make the jump to light heavyweight. The real prize was a future fight against Jones in the heavyweight division, but “The Last Stylebender” treated Blachowicz like nothing more than a pit stop on the highway to immortality.
It turned out to be a flat tire.
Blachowicz outlasted Adesanya to win their UFC 259 pay-per-view (PPV) main event last Sat. night (March 6, 2021) inside APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, notching scores of 49-46, 49-45, 49-45. It was a close, competitive fight with an ending that was only controversial to fight fans who wagered on Adesanya.
“Yeah, it didn’t exactly go the way I wanted it to go, but dare to be great,” Adesanya told Joe Rogan after the bout. “You know the critics, the ones on the sidelines, but I’m the one putting in on the line.”
“Dare to be great, good job kid,” Jones wrote on Twitter. “If you ever wrote me talking shit about Izzy beating me, slap yourself.”
The now 20-1 Adesanya opened himself up to criticism by talking about future fights against Jones, as well as UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. It’s okay to talk a little smack and believe in yourself, you just have to back it up when it the cage door closes behind you.
Adesanya didn’t, a fact not lost on Jones.
Round 2 tweet from Jones: “Can’t wait to make this bitch eat his words.”
Round 4 tweet from Jones: “Yeah never mind, that’s not even worth my time.”
Jones (26-1, 1 NC) and Adesanya (20-1) have been warring on social media for the last two years and many fighters (like this guy) were expecting “The Last Stylebender” to give “Bones” all sorts of problems. But that’s a super fight we’ll never see, just like we never got to see Jones vs. Anderson Silva.
Adesanya remains the middleweight champion and will make his return to 185 pounds later this year. As for Jones, he’s expected to face the winner of Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou, who collide at UFC 260 later this month.
For more results and fallout from UFC 259 click here.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiigFodHRwczovL3d3dy5tbWFtYW5pYS5jb20vMjAyMS8zLzcvMjIzMTc4NzAvdWZjLTI1OS1yZXN1bHRzLWpvbi1qb25lcy1nbG9hdHMtaXNyYWVsLWFkZXNhbnlhLXJ1aW5zLWhpcy1wZXJmZWN0LXJlY29yZC1ib25lcy1zdXBlci1maWdodC1tbWHSAZcBaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubW1hbWFuaWEuY29tL3BsYXRmb3JtL2FtcC8yMDIxLzMvNy8yMjMxNzg3MC91ZmMtMjU5LXJlc3VsdHMtam9uLWpvbmVzLWdsb2F0cy1pc3JhZWwtYWRlc2FueWEtcnVpbnMtaGlzLXBlcmZlY3QtcmVjb3JkLWJvbmVzLXN1cGVyLWZpZ2h0LW1tYQ?oc=5
2021-03-07 07:17:11Z
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