UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has nothing but good problems according to Dana White.
Adesanya is coming off an impressive second-round TKO win over Paulo Costa at UFC 253 last month. Being the active champion that he is, “The Last Stylebender” has already earmarked Jared Cannonier as his next opponent should the latter defeat Robert Whittaker at UFC 254 this weekend.
For White, that attitude is exactly what made Adesanya a star and even if Cannonier doesn’t end up coming out on top, there are plenty of other options for the middleweight king — some in other divisions as well.
And no matter which one he ends up taking, the results are only going to be positive.
“I know Adesanya’s in a place right now where he’s like, ‘if Cannonier wins, I want Cannonier.’ But if Whittaker wins, the rematch is massive for both of them and it’s obviously a huge fight in Australia and New Zealand and globally too,” White told BT Sport. “So it makes sense for him to fight him too.
“But the incredible problem that we have with Adesanya right now is, he has so many options of what he can do. But no matter what road we go down, if he fights Cannonier, if he fights Whittaker, if he fights [Jan] Blachowicz, if he fights [Jon] Jones — all these fights are going to make this kid a, a lot of money and b, put him down as one of the greatest to ever live. So he has nothing but good problems right now.”
All those fights are certainly great options but the one fans are most eager to see is a long-brewing super fight with Jones that has been built up since the first half of 2019.
For now, it looks like we will have to wait until next year as Adesanya still very much plans on cleaning out his division before moving on to the super fights.
But even if that fight doesn’t take place in the foreseeable future, one thing remains constant — Adesanya will always have options.
You can watch the full interview below: