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“I think it’s going to take a heavyweight. It will be one of those big, big guys that shuts the lights out.
There’s much talk of a possible superfight between reigning light heavyweight champ Jon Jones and newly-crowned middleweight king Israel Adesanya, but Daniel Cormier doesn’t like ‘The Last Stylebender’s’ chances in that matchup.
While Cormier acknowledges that Adesanya is a stellar fighter in his own right, ‘DC’ believes it will take a heavyweight to knock ‘Bones’ off his top spot.
Speaking to Adam Catterall of BT Sport in a recent interview (h/t Abhinav Kini of The Body Lock MMA), Cormier, who came up short against Jones in two separate title bouts at UFC 182 and UFC 214, said it’s only a matter of time until Jones moves up to heavyweight and tests himself against the big boys.
“I think he’ll have to,” Cormier told BT Sport on whether Jones will move up.”He’ll have to escape his comfort zone a little bit. It’s scary for him. It’s scary for a lot of guys to change weight classes.
“There’s this heir of invincibility with Jones and for him to go up and take these chances, I imagine is very scary. I don’t know if he really wants to do that but I think he will at some point.”
“I don’t know if he beats Jon Jones,” Cormier said of Adesanya’s chances against Jones. “I really don’t. Obviously, you guys know my feelings towards him [Jones] but he’s good, man. I think it’s going to take a heavyweight. It will be one of those big, big guys that shuts the lights out. I just don’t know if those guys can beat Jones over 25 minutes.
“He’s a good fighter, he has so many weapons. Look at me, I feel I’m one of the greatest fighters of all time and he beat me twice. That says a lot about who he is as a competitor. Can Israel fight him? Yes. Especially if Jon takes the wrong approach to fighting Izzy. When you fight Adesanya, you better go get some takedowns because if you stand with him, he’s dangerous for anybody.”
Jones is set to return to the Octagon next month to defend his light heavyweight title against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247. The pay-per-view takes place on Feb. 8 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.