Michael Bisping is intrigued by a possible rematch between Israel Adesanya and Jan Blachowicz down at 185 pounds.

Last week, after hearing that light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka wanted to run it back with Glover Teixeira for his first title defense, Blachowicz teased a possible drop to middleweight to face Adesanya instead. Blachowicz is a career light heavyweight who once talked about moving up to heavyweight, and so some people questioned whether Blachowicz could actually make the drop down, but former middleweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping thinks it’s possible.

“He fought at 200 pounds in Muay Thai, and when you look at the body shape of Jan Blachowicz — and I am not fat shaming. He’s a tremendous athlete, but he’s got a little bit to lose,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “I’m not saying he’s fat, far from it, but he’s not the most ripped, so maybe he can lose a few pounds. If he got down to 200 pounds like he did in the past, then I think he can make the weight. When I was fighting at middleweight, I used to want to show up at the fighter hotel at 200 pounds. If I did that, with the water loading, with the weight cut process, I could make 185 pretty easily. Well, not easily. It was almost killing myself every god damn time, but you get what I’m saying.”

Blachowicz fought Adesanya at UFC 259, defending his light heavyweight title with a unanimous decision win and denying Adesanya the chance to become a multi-division champion. It remains the only loss of Adesanya’s MMA career and as such, Bisping believes Adesanya would be interested in running it back, particularly with Blachowicz no longer having a size advantage.

“For Jan Blachowicz, this is interesting because for Izzy, he’s going to want the rematch,” Bisping said. “This is the only person to beat him, but now it’s a very dangerous fight for him at 185. If you think about Jan Blachowicz and the first fight with Izzy, it was kind of even on the feet. Both guys had some success. Jan Blachowicz is really, really good at checking leg kicks and in the first fight he would check the leg kick and then fire back with a couple of shots, a good jab, a good left hook that was catching him a lot. And then in rounds four and five he switched it up, he got some takedowns, and he was the only person really so far in Izzy’s run in the UFC that was able to take him down and hold him down. You’ve got to think a lot of that was because of the weight.”

But though he may not have as much of a size advantage in a potential rematch, Bisping notes that Blachowicz wouldn’t be strictly diminishing himself to make the cut down. There are benefits to dropping the pounds that could make other aspects of the fight even more competitive.

“One thing for sure, he will not be as strong,” Bisping said. “So could he take him down? Did strength play a factor? I think it was more timing and technique that put him down but strength does come into it. He won’t be as explosive and he won’t be as powerful, but one thing he will be is faster. That’s a fact. When you lose some of that extra bit of flab he’s got and a little bit of muscle, he will be faster. So that will help him. That will help him on the feet and help him with his reflexes. So it’s very, very interesting.”

Unfortunately for Blachowicz, he’ll have to wait his turn at middleweight as well. While the fight is not officially booked, Adesanya is set to defend his title against Alex Pereira, the man who has twice beaten him in kickboxing. So for the moment, Blachowicz is stuck waiting behind a rematch until he gets his shot at a title.

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TOP STORIES

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VIDEO STEW

UFC Long Island Post Show.

UFC Long Island Post Fight Press Conference.

UFC 276 booth reactions.

Doctor explains Ortega’s injury.

Kayla Harrison on ESPY nomination.

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LISTEN UP

On To The Next One. Matches to make following UFC Long Island.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Statements.

Ilia Topuria.

Gilbert Burns wants to fight at MSG.

Francis Ngannou.

Pokemon.

Strong negotiation.

The WWE.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ludovit Klein (18-4) vs. Mason Jones (11-1); UFC London, July 23.

Katlyn Chookagian (18-4) vs. Manon Fiorot (9-1); UFC Paris, Sept. 3.

Charles Oliveira (33-8, 1 NC) vs. Islam Makhachev (22-1); UFC 280, Oct. 22.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks for reading! See y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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