LAS VEGAS – Israel Adesanya will be significantly lighter than Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259, although not as much as he stated earlier this week.
Adesanya weighed in at 200.5 pounds on Friday morning during the official UFC 259 weigh-ins at the UFC Apex. He didn’t get undressed like athletes usually do. He only wore sweaters, and then he had a cornerman bring him a box of pizza.
No one has ever weighed in as lightly as Adesanya on Friday, winning the UFC light heavyweight title, according to research from ESPN Stats & Information. Fighters who weigh less than 202 pounds are 0-2.
On Saturday, the UFC Middleweight Champion will go up to compete for the title of light heavyweight against champion Blachowicz. Earlier this week, Adesanya told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani that he could weigh in at just 193 pounds. That was not the case. But Blachowicz weighed in right at the limit of 205 pounds for a title fight, telling ESPN he would weigh about 220 pounds on Saturday. It is unlikely that Adesanya will weigh much more on Saturday than he does now.
Adesanya is only attempting to become the fifth fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two different divisions at the same time. The others were Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Henry Cejudo, and Amanda Nunes, who still has a pair. Nunes will defend her UFC women’s featherweight title against Megan Anderson in the co-main event on Saturday.
Nunes got on the scales first on Friday morning and weighed 145 pounds. Anderson was 144.5. Nunes is the UFC’s featherweight and bantamweight champion. She is considered the greatest MMA fighter of all time for women.
ESPN has ranked Adesanya number 4 in the world in its pound-for-pound rankings. In middleweight, Adesanya is number 1, while Blachowicz is number 2 in light heavyweight behind the great Jon Jones, who is transitioning to heavyweight.
Adesanya (20-0) has been the UFC Middleweight Champion since October 2019. He has two title defenses, including a dominant second round TKO over Paulo Costa at UFC 253 last September. Adesanya, 31, has won the UFC nine times in a row, going back to his debut in February 2018.
Blachowicz (27-8) won the vacant light heavyweight title with a second round TKO against Dominick Reyes at UFC 253, the same card as Adesanya as the captain against Costa. The resident of Poland has won four, three of which by KO / TKO. Blachowicz, 38, has won a total of eight of his last nine fights.
Petr Yan will also try to defend his UFC bantamweight title for the first time on this card. Yan weighed 135 pounds and challenger Aljamain Sterling was 134.5 pounds.