Last night at UFC 253, we saw two dominant performances in two title fights. The promotion’s first PPV back on Fight Island featured a fight for the vacant light heavyweight title and the undisputed middleweight crown.
Israel Adesanya (20-0) and Jan Blachowicz (27-8) put on incredible performances and walked out with UFC gold wrapped around their waists. In fights that were very even on paper, these two put forth dominant performances which left no doubt.
The main event failed to deliver a war like UFC president Dana White was hoping for, but instead we saw continued brilliance from Israel Adesanya. The co-main event saw a new king emerge in the UFC‘s light heavyweight division, and that king has some serious Polish Power.
What’s next for Israel Adesanya?
Last night, Israel Adesanya completely blew me away with his performance. I thought he was going to have a difficult time at UFC 253, but he got Paulo Costa (13-1) to play right into his hands. Adesanya finished off Costa in the second round of a one sided beating.
After the fight, Adesanya made it pretty clear who he wants in his next UFC title defense. Adesanya said that he’s looking at fighting Jared Cannonier (13-4) in his next fight. Cannonier has won all three of his fights by knockout since dropping to middleweight.
Cannonier does have his hands full as he’s fighting Robert Whittaker (21-5) next at UFC 254. Despite Adesanya’s dominant win over Whittaker back at UFC 243, a rematch would be a massive fight especially if Whittaker defeats Cannonier.
Whittaker is coming off of a win against Darren Till back in July. Safe to say that the UFC is going to have Adesanya face the winner of the middleweight clash that’s scheduled for UFC 254. Or perhaps a light heavyweight showdown with Jon Jones could be in the cards.
What’s next for the UFC’s Polish Power?
What more can you say about Jan Blachowicz? Blachowicz lost to Patrick Cummins back at UFC 210 in 2017. That was the second straight loss for Blachowicz who had just turned 34 years old. His UFC career didn’t look the brightest after that fight.
However, Blachowicz went on a run after that point that nobody could have seen coming. Jan Blachowicz has won eight of his last nine fights and it all led to UFC 253. Blachowicz knocked out Dominick Reyes (12-2) in the second round to claim UFC gold.
Blachowicz spent his time calling out Jon Jones in the post fight interview. However, despite the callouts, I don’t think Blachowicz will get Jones next. I think Blachowicz is going to be taking on the winner of the Glover Teixiera – Thiago Santos fight which is booked for November.
You would have to think that the UFC and Blachowicz want to see Santos win that fight. The lone loss that Blachowicz has on his record during this stretch came to Thiago Santos. Santos knocked Blachowicz in the third round of their fight.
If Santos is able to get by Glover, it will make for a very good rematch for the Polish fighter’s first UFC title defense. Either way, fans around the world should be very happy for Jan Blachowicz.