Israel Adesanya: Jon Jones matchup will be “biggest fight in UFC history”

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya believes his seemingly inevitable fight with Jon Jones will be the biggest in UFC history.

Adesanya and Jones, the former UFC light heavyweight champion, have been jawing back-and-forth on social media and in interviews for months. Their trash talk has been getting increasingly venomous, with both men even mentioning the other’s families recently.

Adesanya believes their verbal warfare will likely get even more personal before all is said and done.

“Don’t mention my father,” Adesanya told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “I don’t give a (expletive) if your mom’s dead. I’m sure she was a beautiful woman, a beautiful soul, but I don’t give a (expletive) if she’s dead. Don’t mention my dad. Do not mention my family. This is business, this is work. Yeah, sure, mention my coach. Cool. But don’t mention anything personal. You think you can get down and dirty? Mother(expletive) I’m from the gutter. I can get grimy. You don’t understand Nigerians. Trust me, you don’t want this war.

“If you want to go down back-and-forth dirty, bro,” Adesanya added. “You don’t even know the gutter, from your little posh, suburban spot in New Mexico. You don’t know, bro. Trust me. He wants to get down and dirty and start mentioning family members? And people will say, ‘You should’ve mentioned his dad instead.’ It’s not up to you to decide what I do. You mentioned my family. It’s open season. You’re lucky I didn’t come for other members of your family.”

All of the trash talk between Jones and Adesanya has made their potential collision feel like a near certainty. If it does happen, Adesanya believes it will clock in as the biggest fight in UFC history.

“Where’s the contract?” Adesanya said. “I’ve never been offered this fight, so it’s like where’s this contract that everyone likes to bring up? Paulo said the same thing, ‘Sign the contract.’ What contract mother(expletive)? I just whipped your ass, bad. Double-tap. Easy. Everyone is saying, ‘Sign the contract. Sign the contract.’ I don’t think these people know how contracts work. You have to get a contract before you sign. But yeah, cheddar makes it better. That’s a big fight.”

Who do you think would win a fight between Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya?