Israel Adesanya says he may weigh 193 pounds for 205-pound light heavyweight title fight this weekend
Reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will be looking to add his name to the history books this weekend at UFC 259 when he looks to become a two-weight champion as he challenges champion Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight title. While many are curious as to how Adesanya’s frame will look coming into the heavier weight class, he made a shocking revelation as to what people should expect his weight to be on fight night.
During a recent interview with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, Adesanya noted that he could come into the cage at a much lower weight than expected for the 205-pound title fight, and could come in at 193 pounds. When first asked by Helwani how much he’d step in the cage at, Adesanya shrugged then revealed the lower weight.
Israel Adesanya told @arielhelwani he might weigh as little as 193 pounds Friday for the 205-pound title fight at #UFC259. More: https://t.co/WYKJWOyY3P
— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) March 2, 2021
“I’ll tell you what, I’m going to keep the same energy during my fight week. I’m not going to go and order Uber Eats and cakes, I’m going to keep the same energy. Mainly just for my routine, my mind. It’s not a superstition thing, it’s just my body just knows what it does. My body knows it’s fight week already so it’s going to start dropping weight just cause that’s what my body does. Yeah, don’t be surprised if I weight around like 193.”
When asked how this week would be different if he was preparing for 185-pound title fight at middleweight, Israel Adesanya said, as he currently sits approximately at the mid-190 pound range, that he could still make the middleweight title limit of 185 pounds if he needed to this week.
Usually, when fighters move up a weight class, they tend to take time in order to get used to their body adjustments, but Adesanya doesn’t buy into that.
“It’s just silly to me when people decide to go add more muscles to their frame that they’re not used to, over the years they’ve been working this game. For me, I just do this thing different. I want to bring it back to the rawness of martial arts. Technique. Don’t worry about weight, don’t worry about all that.”
Israel Adesanya will not only be looking to add another belt to his collection at UFC 259 this weekend but it sounds like he’ll also be out to make a statement that just because he’s going up in weight, doesn’t mean he needs to add weight.
