A few years back, Israel
Adesanya and Jon Jones were
not on the best of terms.
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That
rivalry centered primarily on a hypothetical meeting between
the two UFC stars back when Jones was reigning light heavyweight
champion and Adesanya was considering a move up to attempt to
become a two-division title holder. Today, however, Jones is the
heavyweight king, and Adesanya is fully entrenched in his second
reign as 185-pound ruler. So when the two fighters recently crossed
paths during International Fight Week in Las Vegas, it became a
viral feel-good moment.
The encounter almost didn’t happen, but when Adesanya elected to
leave his hotel room to hang out at the casino bar, Jones happened
to be in the same place. While “The Last Stylebender” won’t reveal
exactly what was discussed, there was an instant positive
connection.
“It’s no one’s business [what was discussed], that’s between me and
him, but it definitely wasn’t a fake encounter,” Adesanya said on
his YouTube channel. “I think it was divine intervention. I
honestly do, because I feel like there’s so many timelines where it
could’ve ended up differently.
“… I get to the bar and I’m standing there looking at my phone, and
then I hear, ‘No way,’ and you just think it’s some fan or
whatever, and turned around and it was like, ‘Oh, s—t, what the
f—k?’ And instantly, we just dapped up. The energy was just… if
you were around, you witnessed history because the energy was just
palpable. It was a mega moment in the best way possible. And we
just sat down and chopped it up, it was cool. We chopped it up
about everything, and that’s need-to-know basis. It was good
vibes.”
And just like that, the animosity between the two champions is a
thing of the past.
“Yeah, [the beef is squashed],” Adesanya said. “We have
understanding and common ground. We’re competitors. That’s it. It’s
like, why should I hate my brother?”
Adesanya also enjoyed seeing the positive reaction to the videos
posted of he and Jones interacting on social media.
“I went deep into my YouTube comments, and every comment was like,
‘That made me smile, I was smiling so hard watching this,’ and
giving people that feeling watching us spar and play around…It felt
like, is this what world peace would feel like? Imagine world peace
when people aren’t at war, people aren’t fighting. It felt like a
little bit of world peace.”
Jones is currently preparing to face former heavyweight champ
Stipe
Miocic in the UFC 295 main event at Madison Square Garden in
New York on Nov. 11. Adesanya, meanwhile, is expected to make his
next title defense against Dricus Du
Plessis at UFC 293 in Sydney — though that bout has not been
formally announced. While it’s unclear if it will happen ahead of
their upcoming fights, Adesanya is certain that he and Jones will
train together at some point.
“We definitely will,” he said. “It’s in the works, it will
happen.”
“Apes together strong!” – Caesar pic.twitter.com/PzAsgulO9Z
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender)
July 6, 2023