Israel Adesanya holds the UFC middleweight championship and is gearing up for his second defense next month. He will face Paulo Costa in the UFC 253 main event. However, considering the activity in the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions, Adesanya was questioned about how his potential fight against Jon Jones could be affected. 

‘The Last Stylebender’ indicated that the plan was still on. He said, “One hundred percent. It doesn’t change my plans. My plan is still going forward as planned. So, yeah, same thing.”

However, the champion commented on Jones taking too long to move up. ‘Bones’ remained at light heavyweight right from his debut in 2008, despite being the champion for the better part of a decade. Adesanya said, “Look how long it took him to move up to heavyweight finally.” 

‘The Last Stylebender’ claimed the interim belt in April 2019. He defended it in a unification contest against Robert Whittaker and followed it up with a win over Yoel Romero at UFC 248.

Adesanya wants the announcer to say “and still” a few more times before he moves up a division. 

Israel Adesanya plans to defend his belt a few more times before moving up

“He was expecting me to do it straight away, but I hadn’t even defended my belt yet I’ve defended my belt twice now. I’m going to defend it a few more times and then do what I set out to do.”

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Finally, he offered a piece of advice to the fighter he has dissed for a while. Adesanya said, “But, yeah, the pot calling the kettle black on his part. Go put some f***ing muscle on your chopstick legs and go fight Francis Ngannou and watch him break you.”

Read: “Don’t Try and be Fake Like Jones” – Israel Adesanya Offers Words of Wisdom to Aspiring Fighters

Given that he wants the honor of beating Jon Jones, he concluded, “I hope he doesn’t, though. Maybe he does. Who knows?”

Jon Jones will mostly get the marquee fights at heavyweight with ‘The Predator’, with Stipe Miocic being among ones that he has teased. Adesanya is no stranger to competing at a higher weight class. 

Read: The Lesser Known Journey of Israel Adesanya Before UFC

He arrived in combat sports as a kickboxer who competed at heavyweight and cruiserweight. Hence, a move up will not be alien to him. How soon could ‘The Last Stylebender’ make the move up to heavyweight?