Israel Adesanya Brushed Away Jon Jones Question After Fight, But Dana White Welcomes The Idea
Rising star Israel Adesanya captured an interim middleweight title last night (Sat, April 13, 2019) after defeating top contender Kelvin Gastelum in an epic five-round war at UFC 236 from inside State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. There bout turned out to be one of the best 185-pound fights of the year.
Gastelum had his top moments early in the fight by putting on heavy pressure and winging left hands. By the second and third frame, Adesanya turned the tables by hurting Gastelum with massive right hands. In the fourth round, Kelvin returned forcefully and landed a vicious head kick that put ‘Last Stylebender’ in serious trouble. Adesanya survived the storm. The final frame was the wildest one where Adesanya battered Gastelum severely. Kelvin wore on some serious damage and broke out in the last seconds of the fight.
At the UFC 236 post-fight presser, Adesanya ignored questions of Jon Jones by stating:
“This is about me. None of that. This is about me and Kelvin. I’ll address that another time.”
"This is about me. None of that. This is about me and Kelvin. I'll address that another time." – Adesanya after being asked about Jon Jones. #UFC236
— 𝕵𝖚𝖘𝖙𝖎𝖓 𝕲𝖔𝖑𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖑𝖞 (@justin_golight) April 14, 2019
After acknowledging Adesanya’s comment, Jon Jones’ didn’t hold back and fired a shot at ‘Last Stylebender.’
“Just waking up to the morning news, this is about you now bitch
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) April 14, 2019”
Earlier this week Israel draw some headlines with the statement that he’s ready to add another greatest of all time win under his name. That generates a harsh response from Jon Jones who’s critical of Adesanya’s performance against Anderson Silva at UFC 234.
We all know what’s next for Israel Adesanya, a title unification bout with Robert Whittaker later this fall probably in Australia. Presumably, if Israel wins UFC Dana White said he’d be interested in a super-fight between ‘Last Stylebender’ and ‘Bones.’ (h/t MMAJunkie)
“(Adesanya has) got Whittaker to look forward to now,” White said. “Whittaker is a bad dude. He’s bigger than Kelvin, he hits harder than Kelvin, and he needs to focus on him right now.
“I know him and Jon Jones have been talking some smack, and listen, if he wins, and he becomes the middleweight champion, obviously I’d love to see him and Jon Jones fight. But we’ll see how everything plays out and timing. Because the other thing is if Israel fights Whittaker and wins, there’s other guys that have been waiting in line, too, to fight for the title. If (Ronald) ‘Jacare’ (Souza) keeps winning and doesn’t get a title fight, that guy might kill me.
“But that Jon Jones fight is going to be out there for Israel no matter what. That ain’t going anywhere.”
Israel Adesanya is undefeated in the UFC, and a future fight with Jones would put Nigerian in a tough test as we all saw last night in the main event of UFC 236 how Holloway’s power didn’t do much against Dustin Poirier.
