UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya doesn’t see Jon Jones moving up to the heavyweight division but he does still envision the two meeting down the line.
There was a time when the MMA world was red hot with buzz of a potential showdown between Adesanya and Jones. The two were relentless trading barbs back-and-forth and many had high hopes of the bout happening. The buzz seemingly waned a bit after Adesanya suffered a unanimous decision loss to UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Blachowicz.
Jones has insisted that he plans on moving up to the heavyweight division. He’s been bulking up substantially in an effort to make the move.
Despite the plans put forth by “Bones,” Adesanya told MMAFighting‘s Ariel Helwani that he isn’t sold on Jones making the transition to heavyweight.
“I don’t think we’re ever going to see Jon Jones fight at heavyweight. F*ck, he’s been saying this since 2013. You either get it done or you don’t.
“For me, I jumped up [a division] within three years of [being with] the company. I jumped into the division ahead of me. The guys up there respect me — even the champion up there gave me my props. So yeah, I just think it’s not something that anyone can do. And he’s getting fat for no reason now.”
Additionally, though Team Jones has insisted that there is no longer any interest in a fight against the middleweight champion, Adesanya went on to say he still believes he’ll share the Octagon with Jones one day.
“I see it. I see it 100 percent,” Adesanya said. “But that’s the thing. You’ve got to know when to hold them, you’ve got to know when to fold them, and the song is not over yet. So stay tuned. We’ll fight one day. I don’t know where or how it’s going to happen. I just have an idea of what’s going to happen. But yeah, see if he moves up in weight first. See if he moves up in weight first and deals with these guys there. I think he can, but does he think he can?”
Adesanya is coming off a successful title defense against Marvin Vettori. “The Last Stylebender” won the fight via unanimous decision. The UFC reportedly wanted to book Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker 2 for November, but that’ll likely be pushed back until 2022 due to COVID-19 restrictions.
