Silva: Israel Adesanya needs to respect Jon Jones

Anderson Silva has given his opinion on the recent feud brewing between Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones. Anderson Silva has discussed his upcoming fight at UFC 237 against Jared Cannonier, and why he thinks Israel Adesanya needs to respect l…

Anderson Silva has given his opinion on the recent feud brewing between Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones.

Anderson Silva has discussed his upcoming fight at UFC 237 against Jared Cannonier, and why he thinks Israel Adesanya needs to respect light heavyweight king Jon Jones.

Silva (34-9, 1NC) returned to the octagon for the first time in two years at UFC 234 against Israel Adesanya, losing by unanimous decision. The former longtime middleweight champion is now facing a fairly quick turnaround, as Silva is set to face Cannonier in May. “Spider” spoke to MMA Fighting about the fight.

“I think it’s more important for me to make something special for the fans,” Silva said. “In my opinion now, I try to do something special for the fans. When I fight, everybody says, “Why do you take this fight, why do you fight this person?”, I say it’s a good challenge for myself, for my mind.

“I never put in my mind that I need to fight again for the belt, because that’s the part of my life that has passed. Now, I continue to fight, maybe a new opportunity to fight for the belt will come, I don’t know. But no, I am not putting all my energy that I need to fight for the title again.

Silva also gave his take on the recent social media feud stemming between Adesanya and Jones. Adesanya called out Jones stating he had already “killed one GOAT”, referring to Silva, and he’s hunting the next. Silva said he thinks Adesanya needs to respect ‘Bones.’

“My personal opinion, Israel is young and Jon Jones has had a great story for a long time in this sport. I think Adesanya needs to respect Jon Jones. But for the business, it’s good for Dana [White].”

UFC 237 takes place on May 11th at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The card will be headlined by a women’s strawweight title fight between Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade.