It looks as if the UFC is already planning for Israel Adesanya’s next title defense, just one week after his last outing.
Coming off a second-round KO over Alex Pereira at UFC 287, the 33-year-old middleweight champion is looking to remain active in maintaining his schedule of an average of three fights per year.
At the UFC Kansas City post-fight press conference, Dana White shared where Israel Adesanya is at in terms of his next fight, and it’s promising to say the least.
“This guy was already blowing Hunter and the boys up: ‘When’s my next fight? I want to fight again’,” White said. “Israel Adesanya wants to fight nonstop, constantly and wants to fight everybody. We’re working on that, and he’ll fight again soon, probably by the end of summer.”
Quotes transcribed via MMA News.
The UFC is still working out its pay-per-view calendar during the summer months. While UFC 289 will feature the trilogy between Amanda Nunes and Julianna Pena, UFC 290 does not have a confirmed main event. However, the direction is leaning toward Alexander Volkanovski vs. Yair Rodriguez and Brandon Moreno vs. Alexandre Pantoja as the main and co-main events.
If Adesanya were to fight in the late summer, UFC 291 or UFC 292 seem like the most logical possibilities, as both events are still under construction.
Israel Adesanya has cleaned out most of the middleweight division. So much so that Pereira, who still leads Adesanya in their combat series 3-1, is moving up to light heavyweight to face fresh challengers while pursuing a second UFC title.
Adesanya’s dominance is already at a Hall of Fame level, as he has defeated Robert Whittaker (x2), Paulo Costa, Marvin Vettori, Kelvin Gastelum, Jared Cannonier, and Derek Brunson over the last few years. Now, his options at middleweight would appear to include fresh opponents such as Dricus Du Plessis, Jan Blachowicz or Khamzat Chimaev.
Who would you like to see Israel Adesanya fight next? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, Penn Nation!
