The ordering process for Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-views has changed: UFC 247 is only available on ESPN+ in the U.S.
Jon Jones has inspired plenty of superfight talk during his reign over the light heavyweight division.
Usually that discussion involves a move up to heavyweight, but more recently, Jones has been feuding with recently-crowned middleweight king Israel Adesanya. “The Last Stylebender” has the looks of a superstar, and after claiming the 185-pound belt with a finish of Robert Whittaker this past October, the Nigerian-born Kiwi will defend the crown against Yoel Romero at UFC 248 next month.
Despite his sparkling 18-0 record, Jones has been slow to praise Adesanya. That trend continued during a media call to promote UFC 247.
“His swagger is exciting for the fans, but I know a thousand people like him,” said Jones, who will defend his 205-pound title against Dominick Reyes in the UFC 247 headliner. “I grew up with people like him. He doesn’t impress me the way he impresses everyone else.”
“The Last Stylebender” hasn’t shied away from a potential matchup with Jones, but he did recently say that he would prefer that the fight come a little bit further down the line in his career. Jones has taken that admission as a sign of weakness.
“He’s scared, man. That’s all it is,” Jones said. “He’s talking about not fighting me now or me beating his ass. It’s because he’s scared, man. When you let a fighter like me know that you’re not prepared to fight today and you wish you had another year to prepare and all that s—t, it lets me know your mental state. And that’s all I need to know.”
Now 32 years old, Jones has showed no signs of slowing down. The Jackson-Wink MMA representative fought three times from December 2018 to July 2019, authoring convincing victories over Alexander Gustafsson, Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos. He warns Adesanya that the challenge of facing him won’t get easier with time, either.
“If he feels like he’s not quite up for the challenge now and he honestly thinks I’m somehow going to be a weaker version of myself next year, he’s sadly mistaken,” Jones said. “I’m figuring out training camps and figuring out different ways of healing and recovery and all these things. My teammates are getting stronger. I’m only a purple belt in jiu-jitsu.
“If he thinks I’m getting slower or weaker, he’s sadly mistaken. He’s scared today. He made that very clear to the public. And nothing’s gonna change next year.”