Jon Jones may have entertained an eventual showdown with UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in the past, but after watching him lose to Jan Blachowicz this past weekend, he’s no longer interested.
In his first fight at light heavyweight, Adesanya ultimately lost a unanimous decision to reigning 205-pound champion Jan Blachowicz in the UFC 259 main event. While the fight was statistically close, Blachowicz closed out the fight with his two most dominant rounds where he spent the majority of the time controlling Adesanya on the ground after scoring a pair of takedowns.
Despite those shortcomings, Adesanya’s head coach Eugene Bareman said days later that the team had identified where they went wrong and with time and better preparation, they’d feel confident going into a rematch with Blachowicz. Add to that, Bareman also claimed that a super fight against Jones was still possible because ultimately it would be a huge payday for the longest reigning light heavyweight champion in UFC history.
“Jon Jones is a businessman,” Bareman said when speaking to Submission Radio. “Jon Jones understands how the pay-per-view market works and he understands where the money is, and that’s why this fight doesn’t fizzle away.
“Because at the end of the day, if it makes money, it makes sense. And Jon knows who the biggest star in the sport is at the moment and who can get him paid the most. That is why the fight won’t fizzle out.”
As he prepares to make his heavyweight debut later this year, Jones scoffed at Baremen’s comments while pointing out the problems Adesanya had against a bigger, physically stronger fighter who isn’t best known for his wrestling and grappling skills.
“Give it up coach,” Jones wrote on Twitter. “We’ve all seen your cards, your boy has almost no take down defense or offense off his back.
“Now you’re just being a cloud trout, if you would honestly send him in there against a 260 pound wrestler after that last performance, you don’t care about his well being.”
Give it up coach, we’ve all seen your cards, your boy has almost no take down defense or offense off his back. Now you’re just being a cloud trout, if you would honestly send him in there against a 260lb wrestler after that last performance, you don’t care about his well being https://t.co/rsQYNhrA93
— BONY (@JonnyBones) March 10, 2021
The rivalry between Jones and Adesanya was ignited after a series of interviews and social media posts that resulted in numerous fiery exchanges between the fighters.
Adesanya continuously teased a timeline for when he would move up in weight to eventually challenge Jones including the possibility that the fight could take place at heavyweight.
By all accounts, Adesanya’s loss to Blachowicz has all but nixed the chances the fight would happen any time in the relatively near future, especially with “The Last Stylebender” expected to return to middleweight to defend his title after coming up short at UFC 259.
As for Jones, he’s currently adding size and power to his frame while preparing to compete for the heavyweight championship against the winner of the upcoming UFC 260 main event between Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou.
