Dana White thinks a lot of things need to align before the UFC can entertain the idea of Jon Jones vs. [autotag]Israel Adesanya[autotag].
The UFC president doesn’t want to star planning a potential showdown between the two UFC stars since there are “many massive hurdles” in the way of the superfight. Although the trash talk and the bad blood is present, White thinks timing and weight classes are threatening the chances of the Jones-Adesanya matchup.
“With Jon Jones moving up to heavyweight, I don’t know. Then there’s all the talk between him and Adesanya. I don’t want to get too excited,” White told UFC broadcast partner ESPN. “Adesanya still has to fight (UFC light heavyweight champion) Jan (Blachowicz), and Jones is at heavyweight.
“There’s so many massive hurdles that these guys need to get over, so don’t get excited thinking about Jon Jones vs. Israel Adesanya.”
Jones vacated the UFC light heavyweight title this past August for a planned move up to heavyweight. He has yet to get his first fight booked in the new weight class. Adesanya, who holds the UFC middleweight belt, is moving to to the 205-pound weight class to challenge newly crowned champ Blachowicz at UFC 259 in March.
Although Jones has expressed no desire of competing again at 205 pounds, White thinks that’s the right division for a Jones-Adesnaya fight.
“Jon Jones fought at light heavyweight his whole career and Adesanya is moving up to fight Jan for the title,” White said. “But does Jon Jones ever want to go back to light heavyweight again? So that just blows the whole thing out of the water.”
White, who’s had a documented rocky relationship with Jones, says he’s at a good standing with the 33-year-old and thinks Jones just needed some time away from the sport to get back in the groove of things.
“When you’re in this business, the amount of negativity that surrounds you on a daily basis is completely overwhelming to some people,” White said. “I think for some of these guys to step away from it for a while and focus on their family or hobbies or other things they have going on in their lives, (it) makes them appreciate coming back after taking a break.”
