Trainer: Adesanya had plans to become 3-division champ

Israel Adesanya would've set out to become the first three-division champion in UFC history had he defeated Jan Blachowicz for the 205-pound belt at UFC 259, his trainer revealed Monday.

"Israel has stated that he's too close to Francis Ngannou to fight him, but if Miocic won, we were going all the way, 100%," Eugene Bareman told SiriusXM Radio. "We were gonna go from that title to the next title, the winner of Miocic and Ngannou."

Adesanya, the reigning middleweight champion, held a 20-0 record in MMA before falling to Blachowicz via unanimous decision. In the aftermath of his first career loss, Adesanya said he'd return to the 185-pound division, but didn't rule out moving to heavier weight classes in the future.

Miocic and Ngannou are scheduled to fight for the heavyweight strap March 27 in the main event of UFC 260. The winner is expected to then face former light heavyweight king Jon Jones, who has squabbled with Adesanya outside the cage.

Despite speculation Adesanya would've asked to fight Jones if he picked up his old title, Bareman said the former kickboxing star would've pursued heavyweight gold no matter who held the championship.

"Jon Jones, he doesn't come into any of our planning," Bareman said. "When we're planning Israel's career, he doesn't exist in any of those decisions."

Bareman added he had confidence the UFC would've allowed Adesanya to fight for a third belt before defending either of the other two.

"In an ideal world - and I believe the UFC would have backed us - we would've gone straight from the winner of Miocic and Ngannou," he said. "That would have been our next fight."