There would have been much more at stake had this contest taken place a week earlier. However, instead of waiting a week, the UFC announced Jan Blachowicz’s first defense of his light heavyweight belt would be against the middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya. Prior to that announcement, most believed the winner of Thiago Santos and Glover Teixeira would earn the right to face Blachowicz. Not that anyone believes Santos and Teixeira aren’t going to try any harder to win if the shot isn’t on the line, but those types of intangibles can add a little extra oomph to those contests.