Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion Israel Adesanya believes his proposed “super fight” against former light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones is “not dead,” despite the fact “The Last Stylebender” failed his first 205-pound test at UFC 259.
Then again, Adesanya also thinks he’s a real-life anime character, sort of the way Zhuang Zhou thought he was a happy little butterfly.
“Hell no,” Adesanya told ESPN (transcribed by MMA Junkie) when asked if the Jones ship had sailed. “This is just a valley in my story. In any movie, in any anime series, you always have the valleys and you rise up from that. This is just mine and it’s like, all right, cool, bet. I’m taking this very well, and I know exactly what I have to do to get back to my true self, so yeah, I’m doing just that. But nah, that fight’s not dead. I’m coming for that ass.”
Jones appears to have moved on from his Adesanya rivalry — which at times went far beyond fighting — to continue his pursuits in the heavyweight division.
“This is deeper than fighting now,” Adesanya continued. “He knows, we know, we all know what he’s like. We all know how fake he is. It’s not even gonna take long before he fucks his life up again if he hasn’t already and kept it low key and swept it under the rug. You had quarantine Izzy last time going at him and just giving facts, straight facts, so I’m just taking my time right now, doing my own thing, focusing on myself. But, he should do the same because his life could be in shambles.”
Jones (26-1, 1 NC) is expected to face the winner of Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou, who collide at UFC 260 later this month. As for Adesanya (20-1), he’s planning to make his middleweight return to defend his 185-pound title.