Israel Adesanya Still Has Sights Set on Jon Jones, Despite Latter’s Move to HW

Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones have traded plenty of verbal shots to date, and both men have expressed an interest in exchanging real strikes. But, with the recent news that Jones is moving up to heavyweight, is Adesanya abandoning his plans to face “Bones”? Apparently not.

Adesanya says nothing’s changed

After Adesanya defeated Anderson Silva in February, 2019, he relayed that he wanted to go hunting after another great, namely Jones. Those comments didn’t sit well with the soon to be former light heavyweight champ, and it kicked off a feud with Adesanya.

Well, due to the meteoric rise of Adesanya, there’s been no shortage of talk about the middleweight champ fighting Jones. UFC President Dana White said he the promotion would be on board, when the timing was right.

Adesanya also put the brakes on the all-star bout a bit, by citing his wish to defend the middleweight title several times.

Well, more recently, Jones has jumped into the news by announcing he’s moving to heavyweight. In addition, the renowned fighter says he’s vacating the 205 title.

So, what does this mean for Adesanya’s plan to battle Jones? “The Last Stylebender” still has his sights on fighting Jones (quote via MMA Junkie).

“One hundred percent. It doesn’t change my plans,” Adesanya said. “My plan is still going forward as planned. So, yeah, same thing.”

And what about Jones’s move to heavyweight? Adesanya said this.

“Look how long it took him to move up to heavyweight,” Adesanya said. “Finally. He was expecting me to do it straight away, but I hadn’t defended my belt yet. I’ve defended my belt twice now, I’m going 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 (expletive) muscle on your chopstick legs and go (expletive) fight Francis Ngannou and watch him break you.

I hope he doesn’t, though. Maybe he does. Who knows?”

Will we see Adesanya vs. Jones?

Now, you have to admire Adesanya’s gameness here. In the past, he’s talked about fighting heavyweight champ Stioe Miocic.

So, one would think he’d be more than willing to fight Jones at heavyweight if the opportunity arose.

But, at the end of the day, Jones’s move up decreases the chances of this fight happening.

If Jones had continued to be the light heavyweight champ, and if Adesanya continues to hold the middleweight belt, then giving the latter that champ-champ opportunity was an obvious move.

With Jones moving up to heavyweight, however, a lot needs to take place before a fight with Adesanya materializes.

“Bones” will likely need to win the heavyweight title. Adesanya, meanwhile, would probably have to put the middleweight belt on the sidelines for a while, in order to bulk up for that kind of move.

Up next for Adesanya, however, is Paulo Costa, who he’ll battle on September 26th.