Suddenly, a potential fight between Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya is not irrational thinking.
Speaking to Sky Sport New Zealand, UFC president Dana White said he’d be open to a fight between light heavyweight champion Jones (25-1 MMA, 19-1 UFC) and interim middleweight champion Adesanya (17-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC).
Adesanya will attempt to unify the middleweight title when he takes on champion Robert Whittaker (20-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) at UFC 243, which takes place Saturday (Sunday locally) at Marvel Stadium. The main airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
White said if Adesanya gets past Whittaker, he’d be interested in a potential fight between “The Stylebender” and Jones.
“Those guys have been talking smack back and forth,” White said. “If Israel wins and he really does want to fight Jon Jones, that’s a really big fight.”
The two have been going at each other for months, and their budding rivalry was reignited this week when Adesanya predicted that he’d be fighting Jones in 2021. Jones didn’t take well to Adesanya’s comments and sent a series of tweets his way, saying if they ever fought, he’d make him his “absolute (expletive).”
