Israel Adesanya goes off on Jon Jones, rates UFC 239 performance as “meh”

The feud between interim middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and reigning light heavyweight champion Jon Jones just got turned up a notch. Following Jones’ UFC 239 title defense over Thiago Santos, Adesanya gave his assessment on the champion’s performance, and it wasn’t quite complimentary.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani of ESPN, Adesanya rated Jones’ title defense over Santos as “meh” and then continued with his criticism of how Jones looked at UFC 239.

"Meh"@stylebender says Jon Jones' performance at UFC 239 was nothing to write home about (via @arielhelwani) pic.twitter.com/wmptzm7HWn

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 8, 2019

“When you see someone fight live, they look faster or they look slower and homebody, that’s not it, he didn’t have it. My first time ever seeing him in real life, that’s not it. He’s fighting a former welterweight and his [Jones] last fight was against a former middleweight and again, meh. He keeps having the same excuses. Meh. Meh. It’s nothing to write home about, Jon Jones, he’s been in this game a long time, he’s been in the UFC a long time, he’s getting old. I’m fresh, I’ve only been here [UFC] just over a year, I’m the new kid, the new dog in the yard. I’m a sophomore, freshman, he’s a senior, and that why he’s a little bit jealous.”

Israel Adesanya would not stop there in his criticism of ‘Bones’, as he went on to bring up Jones’ past with USADA and picograms of oral turinabol being found in his system. “The Last Stylebender” told Helwani that Jones hasn’t been the same since USADA started working with the UFC.

"He WAS great when he was fighting and there wasn't USADA around…"@stylebender says Jon Jones "needs to get back on the pictograms" to be great again (via @arielhelwani) pic.twitter.com/4oHbmTmPIH

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 8, 2019

“I’ll tell you one thing, I saw him after he weighed in, he started to shake them cakes, that’s nothing. He’s light in the a**. Look at him, he looks like a f***ing Dorito with chopsticks or toothpicks for legs, and he’s calling me skinny. The last time someone called me skinny, when I crouched in front of them I said let’s go, I’ll show you skinny, and I used my f***ing toothpicks, my chopsticks to crack him in the head. I saw him live. I’ve seen him [Jones], he doesn’t have it. He was great when he was fighting and there wasn’t USADA around, but now, my man need to get back on the picograms if he wants to be great again.”

In predicting a future fight with Jones, Adesanya wouldn’t rush his schedule to face the current light heavyweight champion, telling Helwani that he envisions fighting Jones in 2020 at the new Las Vegas Raiders stadium when that opens up.

Do you think we will see a future fight between Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones?

on 7/8/2019