Israel Adesanya’s coach feels his fighter doesn’t need a bout with Jon Jones to solidify his stardom.
Adesanya and Jones have been trading barbs even since “The Last Stylebender” said he was hunting another GOAT after defeating Anderson Silva. Since then, Jones has said Adesanya is “light in the ass” while the newly-crowned UFC middleweight champion has urged Jones to “get my f*cking nuts out of your mouth.”
Adesanya Doesn’t Need Jones, Says Coach
Eugene Bareman, the head coach of City Kickboxing, appeared on Submission Radio and explained why he believes Jones needs Adesanya and not the other way around (via MMAFighting.com).
“Jon Jones a hundred percent needs Israel,” Bareman said. “Israel does not need Jon Jones at all. Israel is baiting Jon Jones at every corner, and Jon Jones just keeps biting because Jon Jones knows he needs Israel. Let’s not talk about Jon Jones, let’s talk about Stipe (Miocic). If we have to talk about this superfight, let’s talk about Stipe. Let’s talk about Israel going up. Has anybody gone up and won two titles but skipped a division? Well, there you go. There’s a bit of history.
“Jon Jones so far has not been willing to go to heavyweight, he’s been reluctant to go to heavyweight? Am I correct? Well, Israel wouldn’t be reluctant to go to heavyweight. Israel would go to heavyweight and he would fight Stipe Miocic. There you go. We’ll take that fight, Jon Jones. If you don’t want to take it, you can hang around at light heavyweight. We’ll skip light heavyweight and we’ll take that fight off you. There’s some more bait there so Jon Jones can bite on it and start doing what he does, like what these guys do. But we’ll take the fight. Don’t worry about it, Jon Jones. Let’s stop talking about Jon Jones, let’s talk about Stipe. We’ve got a bit to do. We’ve got Paulo Costa, we’ve got other things.”
Adesanya became the undisputed UFC middleweight champion this past Saturday night (Oct. 5). He starched Robert Whittaker via second-round TKO in the main event of UFC 243. Meanwhile, Jones is in his second run as the UFC light heavyweight champion and he’s had two successful title defenses.
