UFC: Adesanya Opens Up On Jones’ Situation And Whittaker’s Absence
Israel Adesanya is taking Jon Jones’ recent mistakes as a cautionary tale, while he continues to dominate the UFC’s middleweight division.
Jones tasted success early on in his MMA career when he became the youngest fighter to ever capture UFC gold. However, his near perfect combat sports career has been peppered with incidents outside of the Octagon.
In the latest string of controversies, Jones was arrested when police found alcohol and a firearm in his vehicle, while responding to reports of a gunshot by concerned residents. Jonny ‘Bones’ ultimately struck a plea deal in court after cooperating with law enforcement, which allowed him to avoid jail time.
In an interview with MMA Fighting, Adesanya reflected on Jones’ situation and his own future.
“I’ll make my own mistakes, I’ve already made my own mistakes in this game, even in the UFC. I’m just smart about how I make mistakes. He’s not. That’s why he’s an idiot. I’m not going to say I’m perfect. I never have. I’m not going to pretend I’m holier than thou like he does.
“Jon Jones is a Catholic school girl. Those Catholic school girls were suppressed all of their life and then once they get some freedom and they’re away from the church, they become whores. Jon’s a whore.”
Adesanya immediately took to social media to criticise Jones on the day of his arrest but admits that part of him felt sorry for the 205lbs champion.
“I flamed him up on Twitter with a few memes, while I was still kind of sad because I am able to empathize as a young black man,” Adesanya said.
“To be in my position of power as UFC champion, which is where he is but he’s been there a lot longer and he’s just f***ing it up over and over and over and over again. It’s just like ‘really n*****?’ It’s embarrassing really.”
Jones was arrested by the same officer who responded to his infamous 2016 hit-and-run incident.
“It’s kind of funny,” Adesanya said. “Even in the video, I don’t know what is name is — ‘hello Jack’ or ‘hello John’ whatever his name was. He knows them by a first name basis. That’s hilarious to me. That just shows you the level of the s*** you guys have seen that comes out but then imagine the stuff that we haven’t seen. The stuff that hasn’t been put out in the media that Jon has done and the cops have been involved and they’ve had to suppress it.
“It just shows you. It’s embarrassing but it’s fun for me to watch because he’s a piece of s***.”
Light heavyweight contender Dominick Reyes took Jones into deep water in the champion’s most recent title defence at UFC 247 but ultimately lost out by unanimous decision. The bout was arguably one of Jones’ biggest tests to date and Adesanya believes it revealed some flaws in his rival’s mindset.
“I think Dominick really showed what I’ve been saying about Jones. He’s washed,” Adesanya said. “I’ve been saying he’s washed but no one was listening. I’ve said it. He’s washed.
“I hope he stays champion. That way I’d be the guy to take out the quote-unquote GOAT. The one everyone keeps talking about. Like I said, I’ve been chopping GOAT meat for a long time. This will be nothing different.”
The UFC middleweight champion admits that he regularly enjoys the social media exchanges with ‘Bones’. However, if the two eventually meet in the Octagon, Izzy has previously assured us that he will be taking his opponent seriously.
“It’s just fun for me,” Adesanya said. “When I have time like we all have time right now in this quarantine, so that’s why I was able to flame him up during it. It’s all fun and games until it’s time to play.”
Adesanya recently dispatched of former champion Robert Whittaker to claim the 185lb belt. This week, Whittaker opened up about his struggles with ‘burn-out’ after years of high level competition. The Australian fighter was forced to take a break from training and social media to recover.
Following his former opponent’s statement, Adesanya told MMA Junkie that he can sympathise with Whittaker’s situation.
“Rob, recently I read an article about him on the sand dunes and he had this epiphany where he was just like, ‘Huh what am I?’ and I kinda liked that for him. I’m happy for him that he realized that before it was too late because there’s more important things in this world than fighting. He’s got a family, he’s got friends and other things that are more important. Definitely, fighting is really important, but I’m happy that he made that realization that this s*** ain’t everything.
“All this s*** is gonna end one day and then what are you gonna be left with? Are you gonna be set up for life, or are you gonna be set up for life and have nothing in your personal life? You have to balance it, so I’m glad he’s starting to find that balance now.”
Adesanya is set to face Paulo Costa this Summer, preferably on Dana White’s ‘Fight island’. With this in mind, it may be a while before we see the ‘Last Stylebender’ make the move to 205lb to face his nemesis.
Who wins if Israel Adesanya does eventually get his shot at Jon Jones?
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