HOUSTON – UFC 247 is set to do big business at the box office Saturday, according to the promotion.
Seeing these impressive numbers makes UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones wonder why he hasn’t competed outside of Las Vegas on a more frequent basis. At a pre-fight media day held Thursday, Jones (25-1 MMA, 19-1 UFC) said he likes the idea of venturing out after UFC 247.
“Maybe I need to step outside of Las Vegas and fight in these markets where people don’t see me too often,” Jones said. “I think that’s going to be important. If I can possibly break numbers here in Houston, I can only imagine what would happen if I went to Australia or one of these other countries where they’d never expect to see me. The people would come out and that’s what it’s all about.”
Australia, of course, is the stomping grounds of New Zealand’s Israel Adesanya, who defeated Robert Whittaker for the middleweight title at UFC 243 in front of an announced crowd of 57,127.
When asked, Jones joked he’d still be the bigger draw in Adesanya’s backyard, “Yeah he is (a big draw). I bet I’d be even bigger.”
Jones and Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) have exchanged words in recent months through interviews and online. Thursday, Jones said he’s not interested and finds the middleweight champ to be human, unlike other past potential superfight opponents.
“I have no interest in Israel at the end of the day,” Jones said. “Anderson Silva was a guy everyone wanted to see me fight. I never wanted to do it because I had so much respect for Anderson. I feel the same way with Izzy, but it’s not coming from a place of respect. My career isn’t based around fighting him. For him to fight me, it would be huge for his resume. For me, I feel like I already have so many legends under my resume. He’s not even a legend.
“We’ve all seen that video of him fighting some Alex guy (Alex Pereira) and catching a clean overhand right. He’s very human to me. He’s not this special guy. I don’t see what everybody else is seeing in him. I think his whole anime stuff and how he’s all antics with his hands and all this crazy stuff. I think that’s kind of entertaining to a certain fan base. For me, it’s like ‘I would slap you. Get out of here, kid.’”
Adesanya wasn’t the only topic Jones touched on during Thursday’s UFC 247 pre-fight media day. Check out Jones’ responses to a handful of other subjects on the next page.
Jon Jones likes fighting outside Vegas, bets he'd draw bigger than Israel Adesanya in Australia
