Jon Jones vs. Israel Adesanya? Dana White is Down

Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones have been exchanging warnings and insults through the media for a little while now, and if the two continue to win, it looks like we could the stars fight…

The roots of the beef

Tensions between Jones and Adesanya ratcheted up earlier this year, when after the latter defeated Anderson Silva, he said he was “hunting” for another G.O.A.T in “Bones”.  Jones didn’t take the comments well, and since then, they’ve traded more verbal shots.

White’s latest comments

Well, as you surely know, the interim 185 champ Adesanya is booked to fight champion Robert Whittaker this Saturday at UFC 243. In advance of the fight, which is going down in Melbourne, Australia, Dana White spoke with Sky Sport New Zealand. While talking about the possibility of a showdown between Jones and Adesanya, he said this (quotes via MMA Junkie):

“Those guys have been talking smack back and forth,” White said. “If Israel wins and he really does want to fight Jon Jones, that’s a really big fight.”

So, this shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise really, considering how massive Jones – Adesanya would be. Adesanya has to get by Whittaker first, however, and that likely won’t be easy.

Here is the complete line-up for UFC 243 (via MMA Mania).

UFC 243 ESPN+ PPV Main Card on (10 p.m. ET)

185 lbs.: Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker vs. Interim Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya
155 lbs.: Dan Hooker vs. Al Iaquinta
265 lbs.: Sergey Spivak vs. Tai Tuivasa
170 lbs.: Luke Jumeau vs. Dhiego Lima
265 lbs.: Yorgan De Castro vs. Justin Tafa

UFC 243 ‘Prelims’ Under Card on ESPN2 (8 p.m. ET)

170 lbs.: Rostem Akman vs. Jake Matthews
170 lbs.: Maki Pitolo vs. Callan Potter
145 lbs.: Megan Anderson vs. Zarah Fairn dos Santos
155 lbs.: Jamie Mullarkey vs. Brad Riddell
UFC 243 ‘Prelims’ Under Card on Fight Pass / ESPN+ (6:30 p.m. ET):

115 lbs.: Nadia Kassem vs. Ji Yeon Kim
135 lbs.: Bruno Silva vs. Khalid Taha

*Fight card, bout order and the amount of matches subject to change.