Israel Adesanya is taking on the biggest challenge of his career by moving up to light heavyweight to take on Jan Blachowicz. Adesanya is looking to become the first man to hold both the middleweight and light heavyweight gold simultaneously. However, the main motivation behind this move may have been something else. Jon Jones.
Jon Jones was the champion of the light heavyweight division for the better part of 8 years. While issues saw him vacate the belt on two occasions, he never lost a single championship fight while holding the belt. Now, he is waiting to see whether he challenges Stipe Miocic or Francis Ngannou for the heavyweight title.
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However, Israel Adesanya believes that Jones is running away from him.
“Of course, this is something I’ve already talked about publicly. Yeah, of course. And I told him he can’t run for me. You can run to Heavyweight, but it doesn’t really, he can’t run from me.”
Izzy has pursued this matchup with JBJ for a long time. However, it is yet to be determined when Jones challenges for the heavyweight strap. Along with that, Izzy wishes to continue as a middleweight and is yet to win the LHW belt. Hence, there are a lot of moving pieces here.
Israel Adesanya: Can he beat Jon Jones?
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 07: Israel Adesanya waits during his decision win over Yoel Romero to retain the middleweight title at T-Mobile Arena on March 07, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Israel Adesanya is one of the most talented fighters in the UFC. However, Jon Jones has built a career out of beating these supremely talented fighters. He took down the champions of PRIDE that everyone held dear. After that, he dominated all young contenders until his last two fights.
Adesanya is a lanky and elite striker. However, Jones is elite at almost every facet of MMA. He out-wrestled an Olympic wrestler in Daniel Cormier and came close to knocking out striking specialists like Alexander Gustafsson.
READ MORE: Jon Jones’s Head Coach Sends a Warning to Israel Adesanya
Jones has bulked up a lot for his move to heavyweight, so a cut back to 205 may be hard for the former champion. However, Izzy seems ready to move up to heavyweight for the fight if that is the case. Let’s see how this all plays out.
