The back-and-forth jarring between UFC champions Jon Jones (light heavyweight) and Israel Adesanya (middleweight) has gone on for a few weeks now, with both fighters repeatedly challenging the other. The problem right now is neither one is willing to move weight classes. On Ariel Helwani's MMA Show, Adesanya made it perfectly clear that if Jon Jones wants to fight him right now, he has to meet him at 185 pounds (the middleweight limit).
"If he wants to fight me right now, come see me at 185 [pounds]," Adesanya said.
"I'll let him jump the queue, cause he's the champ at that weight class."
Should Jones not be willing to move down a weight class to meet Adesanya, the middleweight champion reiterated that he will eventually move up to the light heavyweight division. But first he wants to "clean out the division."
"This is my new belt, it's 185," Adesanya said.
"I'm the champ at that weight class and I already have a plan to clean out the division, like he has done in his division. But he hasn't moved up in weight. I've done it in boxing, I've done it in kickboxing, I'll do it in MMA eventually."
"I already said 2021," Adesanya reiterated of his potential window for moving up a division. In justifying his decision to wait to fight Jones, he referenced boxer Canelo Alvarez, whom many believe fought Floyd Mayweather too early in his career.
"Mayweather did what Jon Jones is trying to do to me which is show his hands early," Adesanya explained.
"Fight him when he's still young, when he's still fresh. A smart man, his coaches will see the growth. They see me fight after fight after fight cause I'm fighting so often. They'll say, 'Man, this guy's getting better every time. If we're going to beat him, we got to beat him yesterday. We got to get him the day before yesterday.'"
Adesanya is coming off
an impressive win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 in October. Although he has been going back-and-forth with Jon Jones in the media, he called out top-ranked middleweight contender Paulo Costa following his win.