Israel Adesanya Invites Jon Jones To Fight Him In His Division

It is no secret that UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya, and UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, don’t see eye to eye, and have been going back and forth in interviews and on their social media accounts.

A showdown between the two looks extremely likely at some point after all the trash talking. Adesanya has previously predicted that he will face Jones in early 2021 at the new Allegiant Stadium, being built currently in Las Vegas.

Although Adesanya offered to fight Jones a lot sooner on Monday, during his appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show. Albeit, on one condition.

“If he wants to fight me right now, come see me at 185 [pounds, the middleweight limit], I’ll let him jump the queue, cos he’s the champ at that weight class,” Adesanya stated.

“This is my new belt, it’s 185, I’m the champ at that weight class and I already have a plan to clean out the division, like he has done in his division,” he continued.

Israel also pointed out that ‘Bones’ hasn’t jumped up a weight class, which is exactly what he himself plans to do in the future.

“He hasn’t moved up in weight. I’ve done it in boxing, I’ve done it in kickboxing, I’ll do it in MMA eventually.”

The ‘Last Stylebender’ was also in the mood to blast Yoel Romero and how a fight with him may result in underwhelming pay-per-view buys.

“I want to fight the guy, but how are you going to sell a fight to the public that they know the guy lost three of his last four? He’s missed weight, pulled out a lot over the years. How you going to sell that to the people and say he deserves a shot at the champ.”

Additionally, Israel threw a jab at Paulo Costa and explains that he isn’t a fan of waiting for anybody just to fight him inside the Octagon.

“Some people can fight in the meantime and get ready by February or March. We’re talking right now. Things are behind the wall, in the works. I don’t want to give anything away.”

The UFC Middleweight title-holder mentioned one fighter in his division who who caught his attention.

“I think the dark horse of the division is Jared Cannonier, I saw him [at UFC 244 on Saturday], and we shook hands. He’s a nice guy, so soft I love his energy. I said I can’t wait to fight you, we’ll get this done eventually.”

But Adesanya wants to see more from Cannonier, to fully justify giving him a crack at the title.

“And I think he needs one more fight just because you got to get him over the line. The stock has to be right.”


See also:


Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Leave comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.