Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya are rivals in the UFC but Curtis Blaydes brought up how similar the pair are
UFC Heavyweight Curtis Blaydes takes on Derrick Lewis in what should be a blockbuster event on Saturday.
The two Heavyweights are known to be big hitters and there could be a knockout in the offering. Blaydes is on a four-fight win streak and was interviewed by Helen Yee a day prior to the fight.
The 30-year-old brought up the Heavyweight battle between Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou. He backed Miocic to keep the gold and believed that Ngannou would have to work on his conditioning if he had any hopes of taking the title away.
Blaydes was also asked how Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones would do. Adesanya is the current UFC Middleweight champion but will fight Jan Blachowicz for the Light Heavyweight title.
Jones is a former Light Heavyweight champion but is keen on winning the Heavyweight title. Blaydes predicted both stars would do well but brought up some similarities too.
Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya are almost the same
Jones and Adesanya are leaner fighters and power hasn’t always been their strength. However, they have dominated their respective divisions and Blaydes believed moving up wouldn’t be that much of a problem:
“I think both are going to have success, I don’t know who is going to have more.
“I think Izzy’s got a pretty good chance of beating [Jan] Blachowicz but he could get dropped. Blachowicz has that Polish power and Jon, same thing.”
Blaydes also brought up how power could be a factor in all this and he would wait and see how things would go:
“They are almost the same guy, Izzy’s just a little smaller. Great striking, great creativity, very aggressive and imaginative there.
“Not the biggest guys and there games are not power based, they are more technique and finesse based.
“Which is cool but the bigger you go, the more power becomes a factor and that’s an unknown factor. I have never seen Izzy get hit by a big man, never seen Jon get hit by a big man, so we will just have to wait and see.”
Blaydes was also keen on getting a title fight later in the year, and that could happen if he beats Lewis. Jones could also be someone that Blaydes faces but Dana White has other plans for Jones.
More UFC news
- Jorge Masvidal laughs off Kamaru Usman’s “coffin” warning after UFC 258 title defence
- “Who the hell is that?” – Nate Diaz opens up on failed fight versus Khabib Nurmagomedov
- Khabib Nurmagomedov has an interesting response to fighting Georges St-Pierre at 170 pounds
Follow our dedicated UFC page for instant UFC news and updates
