Jon Jones is on the offensive against Israel Adesanya just days away from Adesanya’s middleweight championship unification fight at UFC 243.
Adesanya (17-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) came to fight week in Melbourne, Australia, claiming to focus solely on his showdown with Robert Whittaker (20-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC), which takes place Saturday (Sunday locally) at Marvel Stadium and airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
However, “The Last Stylebender” did comment in an interview with The Mac Life that he sees a showdown with light heavyweight champ Jones (25-1 MMA, 19-1 UFC) as inevitable, and even predicted an early 2021 meeting at Allegiant Stadium, which will serve as the Raiders’ home when the team moves to Las Vegas.
Jones clearly caught wind of those comments and, on Wednesday, took to Twitter to fire off a series of messages to Adesanya, all of which had a contentious tone.
“Keep convincing yourself that one day you’ll be ready to face a boss like me,” Jones tweeted. “I’ll keep convincing myself that when that day comes, I will make you my absolute (expletive). …
“I can see you’re starting to sip your own Kool-Aid, I know how it feels, I’ve been there before. Only I was around 23. Just don’t become delusional kid, (expletive) with a beast like me and I will expose you.”
A rivalry between Jones and Adesanya flared up in the lead-up to and aftermath of UFC 236 in April, which saw Adesanya defeat Kelvin Gastelum to win his belt. Adesanya previously has fired back at Jones’ criticism of his performance and dismissed the competitiveness of a potential fight between them. Adesanya called Jones a “bully” and said he would like to share the octagon with him one day, but not until he is done making his run through the middleweight title scene and is confident in his ability to defeat Jones.
Adesanya isn’t the only one who sees the timing as being off for Jones vs. Adesanya. UFC president Dana White said post-fight at UFC 236 that it could happen one day, but the stars are very far from aligning.
After defending his 205-pound belt against Thiago Santos in July, Jones said he’s looking to fight once more this year. The remaining schedule is largely filled out, though, and he might have to wait until 2020.
