Despite falling short in his pursuit of becoming a dual UFC champion, Israel Adesanya insists the possibility of a future fight with Jon Jones isn’t dead.
Middleweight champion Adesanya (20-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) experienced his first-career loss against light heavyweight champ Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259, and he agrees with UFC president Dana White that his focus should be on taking care of business in his own division.
What Adesanya doesn’t agree with, however, is the general notion that a potential superfight with Jones (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) is dead just because of his lone setback.
“Hell no,” Adesanya told ESPN. “This is just a valley in my story. In any movie, in any anime series, you always have the valleys and you rise up from that. This is just mine and it’s like, all right, cool, bet. I’m taking this very well, and I know exactly what I have to do to get back to my true self, so yeah, I’m doing just that. But nah, that fight’s not dead. I’m coming for that ass.”
He continued, “This is deeper than fighting now. He knows, we know, we all know what he’s like. We all know how fake he is. It’s not even gonna take long before he f***s his life up again if he hasn’t already and kept it low key and swept it under the rug. You had quarantine Izzy last time going at him and just giving facts, straight facts, so I’m just taking my time right now, doing my own thing, focusing on myself. But, he should do the same because his life could be in shambles.”
Jones, the former UFC light heavyweight champ, was tweeting throughout the UFC 259 main event, took shots at Adesanya after he was handed his first loss and deemed him not worth his time. The two have been trading barbs for over a year now, and Adesanya isn’t too surprised to see Jones revel in his defeat.
“That shows his character,” Adesanya said. “Find a tweet of me tweeting after he wins even against Dominick Reyes. Find a tweet of me kicking him when everyone is sh*tting on him. He barely beat Thiago Santos; Dominick Reyes arguably kicked his ass. Find the tweet of me going at him and taking a victory lap. This shows the character of who he we are. It shows the character of what kind of people we are … it just shows the character. I mean, time will tell. This just shows me his true character, so I bet this is how you want him to play it, cool. Wait until he loses – just time will tell. That’s all I’ll say.”
A win could have put Adesanya on a guaranteed collision course with Jones, but “The Last Stylebender” still thinks a fight between them is inevitable. For now, though, Jones is eyeing a heavyweight title shot against the Stipe Miocic-Francis Ngannou winner at UFC 260, while Adesanya is waiting for the next middleweight contender to emerge.
Israel Adesanya insists future Jon Jones fight isn’t dead: ‘I’m coming for that ass’
