Israel Adesanya welcomes Jon Jones challenge

Israel Adesanya is currently working on conquering the UFC middleweight division, as he’s set to battle Kelvin Gastelum for interim gold at UFC 236. From the sounds of it, however, there could be a move to light heavyweight division in his future, as he’s recently been flirting with the notion of super fight with reigning champ Jon Jones.

Speaking to Submission Radio recently, Israel Adesanya said that this is a challenge he looks forward to.

“Jones and [Anderson] Silva have spoken about fighting each other for years as well, but that never came to fruition,” Adesanya said of this matchup (transcript via MMA Mania). “This I feel is different. So yeah, I look forward to that challenge as well.

Israel Adesanya believes Jon Jones has been talking about this potential fight because he’s wise enough to recognize a threat when he sees one.

“That shows you how serious they’re taking me, the smart ones, how much they know I’m a threat, how serious they’re taking me,” Adesanya said. “Like, [Jones] mentioned it on fight week of 235 or whatever, and then I went back two weeks prior on messages with Eugene when I put the question out there, how are we going to beat Jon Jones? And he kind of just laid down the rough blueprint. And I blurred a lot of it out, but yeah, we’re focusing on Gastelum.”

All of this, of course, hinges on Adesanya getting by Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236, and Jones thwarting his next challenger — most likely Brazilian knockout artist Thiago Santos.

Do you think we’ll see Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones in the cage together in the future?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 3/15/2019.