Jan Blachowicz became the UFC light heavyweight division at UFC 253, but it could be at least another five months before he defends the gold.
The reason that Blachowicz may not be fighting until March is due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in his home country of Poland.
"I can fight in March with anybody," Blachowicz said to ESPN. "It's no problem for me. But I cannot fight any earlier than March. If Israel wants to wait, no problem. In Poland right now, the situation is not so good, and we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, the day after tomorrow. Right now we train normally, but nobody knows what our government is preparing for. We'll see what's going to happen later.”
Israel Adesanya is expected to be the next challenger for the title, as UFC President Dana White said he’ll face Blachowicz in March. Blachowicz says he scared Jon Jones out of the light heavyweight division and Adesanya’s going to have a hard time when they meet.
“Why doesn’t Jon Jones want to fight at 205 [pounds] anymore? Because he’s afraid of me. That’s why he moved to heavyweight,” Blachowicz said. “So it’s not gonna be an easy fight for Adesanya, it’s gonna be a harder fight.”
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