"It's deeper than fighting now" - Jon Jones sees the humor in Israel Adesanya's comments about their feud
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones sees the humor in Israel Adesanya's remarks on a potential super fight with him. Jones ridiculed his archrival in a tweet that contained a laughing gif and a quote from Israel Adesanya's recent interview with ESPN. The tweet indicated that Jon Jones no longer considers Adesanya a threat to his dominance in upper weight classes following Stylebender's defeat to 205lb champion Jan Blachowicz.
“It’s deeper than fighting now,” Jon Jones tweeted.
Jon Jones' tweet takes a jab at the discussion between Israel Adesanya and Ariel Helwani. The pair talked about Jones' reaction to the loss suffered by Adesanya at the hands of Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259. A visibly agitated Israel Adesanya told Helwani that Jones' Twitter rant was indicative of his unsportsmanlike character and asserted that he would be willing to fight Jon Jones irrespective of what course their individual careers take.
"That just shows his character, you know... find a tweet of me going at him after any of his fights and taking a victory lap. This shows the character of who we are... I am taking this (loss) very well and I know exactly what I have to do to get back to my true self... So... that fight (against Jon Jones) is not dead... This is deeper than fighting now. He knows, we know," Israel Adesanya said.
A brief history of the rivalry between Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya
The rivalry between former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and middleweight champion Israel Adesanya dates back to Stylebender's initial run in the UFC when the MMA community drew comparisons between the pair due to similar physical attributes and dominance in their respective divisions. Both fighters have since engaged in a war of words on social media and expressed their willingness to fight each other on multiple occasions.
Adesanya's fight against light current heavyweight champion Blachowicz at UFC 259 was largely considered a stepping stone for the UFC to put together the super-fight. Adesanya's loss to Blachowicz seemed to have buried the prospect of the fight but Jones kept the rivalry alive by taunting the middleweight champ on social media.
Israel Adesanya's size discrepancy at light heavyweight has prompted that middleweight is the division he needs to call home for now. Given that Jon Jones has moved up to heavyweight and is expected to fight the winner of Stipe Miocic vs Francis NGannou for the UFC heavyweight title, the beef between Jones and Adesanya might take a long while before it gets squashed for good.