Jon Jones’ manager isn’t sold on the possibility of his fighter taking on Israel Adesanya anytime soon.
Many fans are expecting Jones, who holds the UFC light heavyweight gold, to take on middleweight champion Adesanya at some point. Adesanya has said that he wants to clear out the 185-pound division first. Jones argues that if Adesanya truly wants to prove himself, he’ll take the bout now.
Manager Feels We’re Far From Seeing Jones vs. Adesanya
Jones’ manager, Abe Kawa, spoke to Submission Radio and said that he doesn’t see Jones vs. Adesanya coming to fruition in the near future (h/t MMAJunkie.com).
“Let’s be real, if Dana (White) comes out and says, ‘I want Izzy to fight Jon,’ he’s doing Izzy a disservice,” Kawa said. “It will never happen. It would have to happen when Izzy is really pushing, ‘I really want to fight Jon.’ I just don’t think it’s a fight that’s realistic anytime soon, at all. So talking about it is almost … – it’s just in our minds.”
Adesanya is scheduled to put his middleweight gold on the line against Yoel Romero. Romero and Jones have trained together and they’re under the same management team. Adesanya vs. Romero will take place on March 7. It’ll headline UFC 248 inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
As for Jones, he’s coming off the third successful title defense in his second reign as the light heavyweight king. “Bones” earned a unanimous decision victory over Dominick Reyes in the main event of UFC 247. The bout took place inside the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Jones has teased moving up to the heavyweight division in the past. Perhaps the close fight with Reyes helped change his tune a bit. Jones has set his sights on Corey Anderson as he mentioned ahead of UFC 247. Anderson meets Jan Blachowicz this Saturday night (Feb. 15) in the main event of UFC Rio Rancho.
