On Sunday, undefeated interim middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will be headlining UFC 243, as he faces current middleweight champ Robert Whittaker in a unification fight at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. However, it appears that Adesanya and his coach, Eugene Bareman, have bigger things in mind for the future, including a move to the heavyweight division for the Nigerian-born fighter.
As quoted by MMA Mania, Adesanya and Bareman recently appeared on Submission Radio, where they discussed a variety of topics, including the former's planned jump from middleweight to heavyweight. While Adesanya had been criticized in the past for making such plans in order to avoid fighting two-time light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, he explained that his main objective is to take advantage of the weaknesses that larger fighters such as reigning heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic have in the division.
"Yeah, definitely," Adesanya was quoted as saying when asked about his chances of defeating Miocic.
"There are certain things we can take advantage of (at heavyweight). And people think I'm gonna have to put on size, but that's cause they're dumb, they don't understand the game. I weighed in with full clothes and a box of Dunkin' Donuts the last time I fought at heavyweight. And so I stayed the same weight, but I still packed a punch."
