Coach: Israel Adesanya will ‘definitely look to move and challenge Stipe’ in the future

ofOver the last few months, much has been made of a potential super fight between UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Adesanya is seemingly all for this matchup with the heavier man — and that’s not where his inter-divisional ambition ends either.

Speaking to  Submission Radio recently, Adesanya’s head coach Eugene bareman claimed the middleweight champ is legitimately interested in climbing all the way to heavyweight to challenge the champ Stipe Miocic in the future.

“Israel stated, and I think it’s a very good plan, he’s gonna do his thing in the middleweight division,” Bareman said of Adesanya (via MMA Fighting). “There’s some really tough challenges. He should clear those out. There’s at least three or four more good challenges. But three or four more fights for Israel is like maybe within this year. So, after that, what’s the next challenge? For him, and we’ve done it in all the sports that we’ve participated in, it’s to move up in weight. And trust me, if he has these three or four more middleweight fights, we will push to fight Stipe [Miocic], a hundred percent.

“Yeah, that’s the fight. . . If Israel can get the business done at middleweight, and if he’s successful he will definitely look to move and challenge Stipe. That’s a serious thing. But for us, we’re not paying immediate attention to it. There’s just so much that we have to put our concentration into now that it’s on the back burner. It’s in the back of our minds. So, yeah, let’s see if that hurries along Jon Jones [laughs].”

Before any potential fight with Stipe Miocic, or even Jon Jones, Israel Adesanya will have to get by Yoel Romero, who he’ll attempt to defend his title against at UFC 248 on March 7.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 2/17/2020.