Jon Jones tells Israel Adesanya’s coach Eugene Bareman to give up while he’s ahead.
A superfight between Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya is still on the table despite ‘The Last Stylebender’s’ recent failed bid to capture the light heavyweight title at UFC 259, per his coach Eugene Bareman.
Adesanya lost to Blachowicz in his 205-pound debut but, according to Bareman, the reigning UFC middleweight champion could still go on to fight Jones at heavyweight if there’s enough demand for the matchup in the marketplace.
“Jon Jones is a businessman,” Bareman said told Submission Radio. “Jon Jones understands how the pay-per-view market works and he understands where the money is, and that’s why this fight doesn’t fizzle away.
“Because at the end of the day, if it makes money, it makes sense. And Jon knows who the biggest star in the sport is at the moment and who can get him paid the most. That is why the fight won’t fizzle out.”
‘Bones’ soon got word of Bareman’s comments and responded via Twitter, essentially shooting down any hopes the New Zealander had about a possible superfight following Adesanya’s decision loss to Blachowicz.
Give it up coach, we’ve all seen your cards, your boy has almost no take down defense or offense off his back. Now you’re just being a cloud trout, if you would honestly send him in there against a 260lb wrestler after that last performance, you don’t care about his well being https://t.co/rsQYNhrA93
— BONY (@JonnyBones) March 10, 2021
“Give it up coach,” Jones wrote on Twitter. “We’ve all seen your cards, your boy has almost no take down defense or offense off his back.
“Now you’re just being a cloud trout, if you would honestly send him in there against a 260 pound wrestler after that last performance, you don’t care about his well being.”
Bareman also recently commented that, had Adesanya beat Blachowicz at UFC 259, the 31-year-old would have been next in line to challenge Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight title.
For now, though, it’s back to middleweight where Adesanya will likely defend his 185-pound title against the winner of Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa or Darren Till vs. Marvin Vettori.
As for Jones, the 33-year-old is expected to make his long awaited heavyweight debut later this year against the winner of Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou. Miocic vs. Ngannou will headline the upcoming UFC 260 pay-per-view on March 27 at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas.