UFC: Israel Adesanya has ‘no need to bulk right up’ for Jan Blachowicz fight, says his dietitian
- Fight dietitian Jordi Sullivan says ‘we are definitely not worried about the weight’ as middleweight champ bids for 205-pound title
- ‘He’s not small as everyone says, he’s a beast ... what’s he gonna be like when he’s just fuelled to the rim and coming out swinging?’
UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya will make the move up to light heavyweight to challenge 205-pound king Jan Blachowicz on March 6 at UFC 259.
Rarefied “champ champ” status awaits for “The Last Stylebender”, who could become just the fifth UFC fighter to hold titles in two weight divisions simultaneously.
Normally such a bid for glory requires precise calculation from a fighter’s team, but Adesanya’s dietitian Jordi Sullivan has revealed the 31-year-old Nigerian-Kiwi doesn’t even need to make drastic changes, such is his natural strength and ability.
“I’m super excited but I don’t think the weight ... we’re definitely not worried about that,” Sullivan told SCMP MMA.
“I’m not gonna reveal too much about what we’re doing but it’s not that drastic a change, because Israel doesn’t cut a heap of weight [at 185 pounds].
“He stills cuts weight that week and he comes in as a good size, but there’s no need for us to say we need to bulk right up for this one and come in, because Israel is a big dude and he’s strong.
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“Cutting weight and getting this perceived size advantage is fine and you can play that card when you’re top five in the UFC and you’re like, ‘[Expletive], I need some kind of edge here, we’re just a level playing field’.
“With Israel, he’s kinda like a one of a generation fighter. Everyone is here [at one level], the best of the best, I still really believe Israel is here [at a higher level], and I think it’s hard to argue with that last performance Israel put on.”
Adesanya (20-0) dusted Paulo Costa (13-1) with a second-round TKO on Fight Island, Abu Dhabi, in September for his second middleweight title defence.
He appeared to take great pleasure in his victory, mocking Costa and his team with his celebrations in the Octagon and later on social media, after plenty of trash talk in the build-up from the Brazilian, who had dubbed Adesanya “the skinny clown”.
“Everyone always talks about with Israel – ‘Oh, he’s the little skinny guy’. I don’t know if anyone’s ever met Israel, he’s not a small human – he’s massive, he’s tall, he’s long and he’s built,” Sullivan added. “Shout out to coach Sunz [Singh] who’s been his long-term strength and conditioning coach.
“He’s a beast. Especially when he fought Costa, everybody was talking about the size difference. The size difference in terms of weight isn’t crazy different. Israel is not by any means a small middleweight.
“You talk to people who train with him every day and you watch him train, he’s different in many ways. The way he moves and sees things, and slips, punches and counters. I see hundreds of thousands of fighters train but no one does it like Israel.
“That whole issue of the size differential, I don’t think it’s gonna play into it as much. So definitely the strategy isn’t ‘get him huge and do this big weight cut coming in’, because he’s not as small as everyone says, he’s really strong for his weight class.”
Sullivan said Adesanya will make “a couple of adjustments” with his City Kickboxing team in Auckland, New Zealand, but not wholesale changes.
“I think going into the camp, when you’re making weight and you’ve gotta go on that weight descent, not that you have to be overly restrictive, but you do have to be somewhat restrictive around certain sessions,” Sullivan said.
“He’s kinda got the liberty now, you don’t have to be like that. You’ll still need to eat well, but every single session you can eat like it’s a barnburner performance session, whereas it’s not like a session we need to pull back some calories.
“Nah, you can go hard every single session which is, to me – if he’s performing like he is where he’s underfeeding certain sessions and over-fuelling only particular ones, what’s he gonna be like on a full camp when he’s just absolutely fuelled to the rim and he’s coming out swinging?”
