New Weight! Israel Adesanya Before-And-After Pics

It wasn’t the tray of Dunkin Donuts like he promised, but reigning middleweight champion Israel Adesanya did bring a pizza to the scale for his light heavyweight debut, part of the UFC 259 weigh ins earlier today at APEX in Las Vegas (full results and video here).

Adesanya clocked in at 200.5 pounds, roughly 15 pounds heavier than his typical championship weight of 185, though I’m not sure there was much of a difference — at least to the naked eye — when comparing UFC 248 against UFC 259 in the photos below.

UFC 248: 184.5 pounds against Yoel Romero

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

UFC 259: 200.5 pounds against Jan Blachowicz

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

“We’ve decided to come in at our normal, walk-around weight,” Adesanya’s head coach, Eugene Bareman, told 1News. “We’re hoping it gives us the advantages we need to win the fight rather than stack on muscle. I don’t think, with any amount of time or any amount of weight that Israel could put on, I don’t think he’s ever going to be stronger than Jan, so we’ve decided: Let’s try not to get stronger than Jan, let’s use that time to better-suited endeavors.”

As “The Last Stylebender” so eloquently put it: “Skills, bro.”

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 259 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 259 news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the complete “Blachowicz vs. Adesanya” fight card and PPV line up click here.