Israel Adesanya: I Don’t Need Jon Jones, He Needs Me To Stay Relevant

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and light heavyweight champion Jon Jones have been going back-and-forth with each other for months now.

There have been talks of a super fight between the two champions, but Adesanya doesn’t want to have the fight for another year. Instead, he wants to rack up a few defenses of his 185-pound title before facing Jones inside Raiders Stadium in 2021. With that being said, both Adesanya and Jones seem to find themselves answering questions about the other in recent interviews.

Currently, Jones is preparing to defend his light heavyweight title. He headlines UFC 247 this weekend (Sat. February 8, 2020) from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas against Dominick Reyes. Also, Adesanya has a title defense of his own coming up. He puts his middleweight strap up for grabs against Yoel Romero in the UFC 248 PPV main event next month (Sat. March 7, 2020). Recently, Adesanya did an interview with ESPN to hype the PPV. During the show, “Stylebender” was once again asked about Jones.

Adesanya noted that he thinks Jones is simply mentioning him all the time to stay relevant. The African-born champion adds that he doesn’t need Jones to do such a thing, but the same can’t be said about the Jackson-Wink MMA product. (H/T MMA Junkie)

“I don’t need him. Actually, I’ll say he needs me if he wants to stay relevant,” Adesanya said. “Because he’s already done a lot in his legacy which is tainted by other things he’s done outside the ring but, for right now to stay relevant, to stay current, he needs me.

“He can keep trying, but he’s got someone else to worry about right now this weekend with Dominick Reyes, so he better focus on that rather than focusing on me.”

UFC president Dana White recently said he’s open to booking Jones vs. Adesanya. however, he first wants Adesanya to get past Romero, Paulo Costa, and other top contenders at 185 pounds. Adesanya doesn’t think that’s necessarily the case, as he claims he could’ve had Jones as his next fight if he wanted to, but is instead opting to fight Romero.

“I don’t think I have to,” Adesanya said. “I could have done my next fight (vs.) Jones if I wanted to, but this division has been held up for so long because the former champion (Robert Whittaker) was pulling out of fights, was sick, and was holding up the division. So for me, I have to do right like the greats.

“”Like Anderson Silva who defended 12 times, the greats like him. I want to do right by the division and defend my belt, so I’m saying if you want to come down and see me, come see me, but let me get my job done first. I’ve got (Paulo) Costa, (Jared) Cannonier, Darren Till is a fresh new name.

“If Kelvin (Gastelum) can re-up and get back on the chopping block, he can get it, but there’s a few other guys that I want to get to – not have to, I want to get to. I want to defend my belt a few more times before I step up and fight someone like Jon Jones.”

What do you think about Adesanya saying he doesn’t need Jones, but “Bones” needs him?