Eugene Bareman Believes Jon Needs Adesanya, Not Other Way Around
Before Israel Adesanya defeated Robert Whittaker at UFC 243, people scoffed at the idea of him ever facing Jon Jones. After the victory, the idea of the fight happening seemed a lot more probable. While the two have traded endless jabs towards each other on social media, it appears that Izzy has taken being unpredictable to the next level. Adesanya’s coach recently revealed that he even more so fancies a match against heavyweight king Stipic Miocic. Even more than the match against Jon Jones. Just ask Izzy’s coach Eugene Bareman.
Eugene Bareman is the head coach at City Kickboxing, Adesanya’s home gym. Bareman was recently on Submission Radio. As the conversation progressed about Jon Jones, Bareman quickly turned the conversation towards Stipe Miocic.
Adesanya Willing to Move to Heavyweight and Face Stipe
A constant theme throughout Eugene’s rhetoric was that Jon Jones needs Israel more than the other way around. So much so, he stated that Izzy would be willing to move to heavyweight to face Stipe, skipping the light heavyweight division completely.
“Jon Jones so far has not been willing to go to heavyweight, he’s been reluctant to go to heavyweight? Am I correct?,” said Eugene.
“Well, Israel wouldn’t be reluctant to go to heavyweight. Israel would go to heavyweight and he would fight Stipe Miocic. There you go. We’ll take that fight, Jon Jones. If you don’t want to take it, you can hang around at light heavyweight.”
Bareman continued, “We’ll skip light heavyweight and we’ll take that fight off you. There’s some more bait there so Jon Jones can bite on it and start doing what he does, like what these guys do. But we’ll take the fight. Don’t worry about it, Jon Jones. Let’s stop talking about Jon Jones, let’s talk about Stipe. We’ve got a bit to do. We’ve got Paulo Costa, we’ve got other things.”
Making History
It’s hard to believe that Israel’s UFC career has been less than two years. The amount he’s accomplished in such a short time is remarkable. In an era where fighters aspire for double champion status, the UFC has yet to see someone jump two weight classes and win titles with a division in between.
Adesanya made the idea of fighting Jon Jones believable. If he continues his winning ways, the idea of fighting Stipe won’t sound so farfetched as well.
