Adesanya says Jon Jones was great when USADA wasn’t around

Israel Adesanya’s shots about Jon Jones only being a good fighter before USADA came around forced a reply from ‘Bones’ on social media. The ongoing beef between interim UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and current light heavyweight…

Israel Adesanya’s shots about Jon Jones only being a good fighter before USADA came around forced a reply from ‘Bones’ on social media.

The ongoing beef between interim UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and current light heavyweight champion Jon Jones continues.

Jones’ split decision win over Thiago Santos this past weekend at UFC 239 drew criticism from the interim champ, with Adesanya stating ‘Bones’ was a great fighter before strict anti-doping rules came into the UFC.

“I saw him live, he doesn’t have it,” Adesanya said when he appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show this week. “He was great when he was fighting and there wasn’t USADA around, but now, the man needs to get back on the pictograms if he wants to be great again.”

Adesanya’s comments didn’t go unnoticed by Jones, which forced the longtime light heavyweight champion to reply to “The Last Stylebender” on Twitter.

After a reply to Jones’ tweet that read him and Adesanya have a lot in common, Jones admitted the pair are similar in the physique department, but Jones said they are by far apart in terms of “anything in between the ears.”

Although a superfight between Adesanya and Jones could certainly be possible in the future, Adesanya will hope to remain undefeated and unify his middleweight title when he faces current undisputed middleweight champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 in October.