Dana White gives timeframe for potential Jon Jones vs. Israel Adesanya superfight
Ever since Israel Adesanya became the UFC middleweight champion he has been active that he will fight Jon Jones in 2021.
The two have gone back-and-forth on social media and interviews trashing one another. The potential fight is there, and it would no doubt be massive. Yet, in order for it to happen, the two will need to keep on winning and “Bones” will need to stay at light heavyweight instead of heavyweight.
For UFC president, Dana White, who spoke to Submission Radio he has an idea of when that fight would potentially happen.
“What I think needs to happen is, and Israel Adesanya is on track, if he beats Romero, Paulo Costa’s next,” White said (h/t TheBodyLockMMA.com). “If he beats Costa, maybe there is one more guy there that would make sense. Gets that fight, beats him and then you start talking about Jon Jones if Israel really wants that fight.”
Israel Adesanya, of course, is set to fight Yoel Romero in the main event of UFC 248 on March 7. It is a fight “The Last Stylebender” wanted even though the Cuban is on a two-fight losing streak. Yet, there was no clear cut contender with Paulo Costa injured so Romero made sense.
Jon Jones, meanwhile, is set to defend his light heavyweight belt in the main event of UFC 247 on Feb. 8 against Dominick Reyes. Should he win this fight, many hope he will finally move to heavyweight.
Although the two seem interested in the fight, Dana White is not too interested. Instead, he would rather see Adesanya keep on defending the middleweight belt and build his legacy that way.
“But if you ask me, I think Israel should stay where he’s at,” he explained. “Keep picking these guys off for as long as he can and just build this phenomenal legacy.”
