Israel Adesanya says he would "100 per cent" fight Jon Jones at heavyweight in future

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones have been trading words on Twitter for almost a year. When The Last Stylebender defeated Robert Whittaker at UFC 243, Jon Jones expressed an interest in fighting Israel Adesanya while saying that he can’t wait to “slap” Israel Adesanya in the octagon. For months there were rumours that Israel Adesanya would move up to the light-heavyweights to go up against Jon Jones, but after Jon Jones vacated his light-heavyweight title and moved to the heavyweight division, fans started speculating that a fight between Bones and The Last Stylebender would never happen.

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Israel Adesanya interested in fighting Jon Jones, but not for now

While recently speaking to MMA fighting (via The Sun), Israel Adesanya made it clear that he still plans to fight the best pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC. He said he’s ready to make a major jump to any division, but currently, he wants to defend his newly-won middleweight title a couple of times. Adesanya said he has defended his title only twice until now and wants to create a legacy in the middleweights before moving forward.

“Like I said, he was expecting me to do it straight away, when I hadn’t even defended my belt yet. I’ve defended my belt twice now, I want 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,” Israel Adesanya told MMA Fighting.

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Jon Jones was earlier linked with a bout opposite Francis Ngannou but stepped out as UFC refused to pay him more than $25m. Following this, Bones threatened to walk out on the promotion but changed the mind after his former rival Daniel Cormier announced his retirement after losing to current UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. Jon Jones then called out Miocic to a fight, but UFC president Dana White made it clear that the champion would defend his title against Francis Ngannou next as The Predator has earned his title shot by defeating Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Jon Jones’ heavyweight debut opponent is yet to be confirmed.

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Israel Adesanya, on the other hand, is scheduled to defend his title against Paulo Costa at UFC 253 which will take place on September 26 at Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. The event will be co-headlined by a light-heavyweight bout between Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz, with the winner getting Jon Jones’ vacated title. The main card of the PPV will also feature fights like Kai Kara-France vs Brandon Royval, Ketlen Vieira vs Sijara Eubanks and Hakeem Dawodu vs Zubaira Tukhugov.

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Image Source: AP, Adesanya Instagram