If Jon Jones is ever going to fight Israel Adesanya, Daniel Cormier thinks that Jones may not want to wait too long.
A war of words has erupted over the past few weeks between Adesanya, the UFC’s current middleweight champion, and Jones, a three-time light heavyweight champion, and a duel between the two stars somehow feel both inevitable and logistically difficult to set up. Adesanya is in the early stages of his UFC championship reign while Jones is expected to make a move to heavyweight when he next competes.
Cormier believes both men want the fight, especially his old nemesis Jones, but also sees all of the social media chatter as Adesanya possibly just playing mind games that may not actually lead to an in-cage encounter in the near future.
“Jones wants to fight him,” Cormier said at a media day in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. “Everybody talks about Jones, but Jones is a fighter. He’ll fight you, he’ll fight anybody. And he wants to fight Adesanya. But Izzy won’t even fight him, which is the most—It’s like picking on somebody constantly but at a distance. Like, I’m away from you.
“I’m not saying Adesanya’s scared, but Adesanya says, ‘I need my time. You said you were going to heavyweight 10 years ago. You’re finally doing it now, why can’t I have time?’ It’s very fascinating the way that these two interact. It’s nasty, but these rivalries tend to get nasty. Jones and I, it was not nice. They tend to get nasty, but that makes it fun for fans.”
Cormier and Jones fought twice and the pre-fight hype between the two got ugly both in interviews and whenever the two were in close proximity to one another. It was Jones who got the better of Cormier in a pair of high-profile bouts (with the second outing overturned to a no-contest after Jones tested positive for banned substances), but Cormier still went on to claim titles at light heavyweight and heavyweight to cement his own legacy.
“DC” hopes that Adesanya does eventually pursue two-division champ status. Adesanya, 31, is unbeaten in 20 MMA bouts and is coming off of a dominant win over rival Paulo Costa at UFC 253. Cormier sees Adesanya as still evolving, which is a big reason why he believes Jones would want to fight him as soon as possible.
