Adesanya 100 Percent Willing To Move Up To Heavyweight To Fight Jones
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones have been going back and forth publicly for more than a year now. During which, ‘Bones’ began calling for the undefeated 185lbs champion to move up in weight and prove how good he is by fighting him. ‘The Last Stylebender’ however, has insisted on getting some title defences under his belt first, before moving up.
Adesanya Willing To Follow Jones
After Stipe Miocic defended his heavyweight title against Daniel Cormier at UFC 252 this past weekend, Jones relinquished his light heavyweight title, signifying his intent to win the heavyweight strap. While the move made plenty of fans excited, it also meant there would now be two weight classes between himself and Adesanya.
However, that doesn’t seem to faze the 31-year-old. While speaking at the UFC 253 virtual media scrum (as transcribed by MMA Fighting), Adesanya stated that he intends on chasing Jones up to heavyweight.
“One hundred percent,” Adesanya said. “It doesn’t change my plans. My plan is still going forward as planned. So, yeah, same thing.
“Look how long it took him to move up to heavyweight, finally. Like I said, he was expecting me to do it straight away, when I hadn’t even defended my belt yet. I’ve defended my belt twice now, I want to defend it a few more times and then do what I set out to do. But, yeah, the pot calling the kettle black on his part. Go put some f***ing muscle on your chopstick legs and go fight Francis Ngannou and watch him break you. I hope he doesn’t, though. Maybe he does. Who knows?”
At the UFC 252 post fight press conference, UFC president Dana White stated that Jones would need to wait to fight for the heavyweight title, as Francis Ngannou is next in line to challenge Miocic.
Adesanya vs Costa
In the meantime, Adesanya has an enormous challenge on his hands, as he is scheduled to defend his title next month at UFC 253 against another undefeated fighter in Paulo Costa. Not only does the Brazilian pose a huge threat to his title reign, the main event will also give Izzy an opportunity to put on a show for the fans, following his lacklustre title defence against Yoel Romero at UFC 248.
“This is perfect,” Adesanya stated. “What I was expecting from my last fight is going to happen this fight. Bro, you can’t understand. In my story, you just can’t just have it going good and going great in the story. You need a dip, you need a valley when things go to s***, and that was me after the last fight, the performance that Yoel Romero brought. He was lacklustre. I’ve never been in a boring fight in my life. I had all this criticism, justly or unjustly. That was a dip, and now this is the rise back.
“What better antagonist than this guy, who was undefeated, a KO artist, he looks the way he does, ballooned up? It’s like David and Goliath. I f*** this guy up, and it’s spectacular. As they say: Someone’s 0 has got to go. It’s a beautifully set up story. You couldn’t write this s***. You could, but it’s real.”
Adesanya has also been engaging in a war or words with Costa for some time. The fight will also be only the second time two undefeated fighters have squared off for a UFC title, further adding to the stakes. However, ‘The Last Stylebender’ doesn’t plan on it being a fight of the year contender, as Dana predicted.
“I think a performance of the year, shutout of the year, shutdown of the year maybe,” Adesanya predicted. “‘Fight of the Year?’ I’ve already had that in my back pocket, but if it happens again – I just don’t think it’s going to happen just because of the situation. You have to be smart enough to put it together. This guy gasses after the first round. We’ve got five rounds. Look at me in all my fights in the fifth round, in the fourth round, the third round, the later rounds – I’m always fresh. So, yeah, precision is going to be the key in this fight. Precision, skill and just taking him out one by one.”
How does Israel Adesanya do against Paulo Costa and Jon Jones?
See also: