Home

UFC

Jon Jones Fight in Jeopardy, Israel Adesanya is Coming For Stipe Miocic

Published 10/15/2019, 7:16 AM EDT

Follow Us

Israel Adesanya became one of the biggest fighters in the sport with his victory over former middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker. That victory opened up a ton of possibilities for the Nigerian born champion. It also opened up a super fight with the UFC light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones.

Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones have been going at each other on various platforms for a meaningful period. Adesanya has confirmed that he is going to move up eventually to fight Jon Jones. However, he wants to defend his middleweight title before going after the light heavyweight title.

Although everything suggests that we are getting this super fight in 2021 or sooner, Israel Adesanya’s coach is not leaning towards the fight at all. Eugene Bareman believes the team city kickboxing will not allow the fight with Jon Jones to happen.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

“There are ethical and moral issues that don’t sit well with my team, and they would be very reluctant to give a man like him the sort of opportunity that Israel can bestow on him. We have a track record of not fighting certain opponents even though they make sense,” said Adesanya’s coach.

It does contradict how Israel Adesanya looks at the fight with Jon Jones. This fight will not only glorify his legacy but financially it is going to be huge as well. However, Eugene Bareman claims Adesanya is not the only one who is going to decide which fight to take. Bareman claimed:

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

“And I’m not talking about in UFC, I’m talking about locally, because they’re just not good people, And Israel can want to fight him and have all the desire in the world to fight him that he wants, but it’s not his decision. It’s not solely his decision. So, if my team decides that … it would just be hard for me to look at my team and ask them, should we give Jon Jones this opportunity considering the type of person he is?”

Before the fight with Robert Whittaker, Adesanya and his coach also showed interest in moving up to heavyweight to fight the champion, Stipe Miocic. As outrageous as it feels, Bareman is more interested in fighting Miocic, who is two weight divisions above Izzy than fighting Jon Jones at 205. Bareman said:

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

“That’s why I suggested, and this isn’t set in stone or anything, but if we were going to do a super fight we would much rather do it against Stipe. A good dude, a nice guy. A stand-up guy. Let’s do it against him, let’s not give someone like Jon Jones an opportunity. That’s just how my team operates.”

Jon Jones currently does not have any opponent ahead of him and he even move up to heavyweight division as he has claimed in past few days. On the other hand, Israel Adesanya is going to defend his title against Paulo Costa next. Although it’s uncertain whether we will see the super fight between Jones and Adesanya, this feud is not going to end anytime soon for sure.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Alok Nayak

766Articles

One take at a time