White: Adesanya Vs. Jones Superfight Still Possible After UFC 253

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Israel Adesanya is entering the biggest fight of his life as he defends his middleweight title opposite Paulo Costa at UFC 253 on “Fight Island,” but “Last Stylebender” still has a potential superfight with Jon Jones to think about.

This is according to UFC president Dana White, who confirmed in an interview with TMZ Sports earlier this week that an anticipated showdown between Adesanya and Jones is still on the table. That may come as a surprise considering Jones relinquished his UFC light heavyweight title back in August with the plan to move to heavyweight, but White isn’t certain what the immediate future holds for “Bones.”

“Jon hasn’t moved up to heavyweight yet. We don’t know what Jon’s gonna do,” White told TMZ Sports.

“If you’re Jon Jones right now, you probably sit back and watch what happens this weekend, see who wins, how they win, and maybe make them defend the title and then you come back and try to regain it.”

While Jones could easily return to light heavyweight and fight the winner of Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz, who will compete for the vacant 205-pound strap in UFC 253’s co-main event, the former champion may be more interested in a grudge match with Adesanya.

After all, Jones and Adesanya really don’t like each other. They’ve been lobbying for a superfight for well over a year now and haven’t showed signs of slowing up, even with Jones deciding to move up to heavyweight.

“Or you move up to heavyweight,” White said of Jones. “Or if Adesanya wins this weekend, you fight Adesanya, I don’t know. Jon Jones is in a really good position right now.”

Adesanya, who is looking to defend his 185-pound title for a second-straight time this weekend at UFC 253, would have to move up in weight to meet Jones at 205 pounds, assuming “Bones” hasn’t already bulked up to heavyweight. It’s a move that “Last Stylebender” has already put on ice until 2021, but maybe things escalate for the UFC middleweight king if he steamrolls Costa this weekend on “Fight Island.”

UFC 253 will go down later tonight (Sat., Sept. 26, 2020) at UFC 253 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E., with Adesanya vs. Costa serving as the main event.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 253 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN 2/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance (also on ESPN 2/ESPN+) at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

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