City Kickboxing coach Eugene Bareman thinks [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] is the one trying to mirror [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag]’s career moves – not the other way around.
With a potential fight between UFC middleweight champion Adesanya and former UFC light heavyweight champ Jones looming, the two stars will have to meet somewhere in the middle.
But Jones (25-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) recently relinquished his 205-pound title in August and announced that his next bout will take place at heavyweight. Adesanya (20-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC), on the other hand, is expected to move up to light heavyweight to challenge newly crowned champion Jan Blachowicz in the first quarter of 2021.
Although Jones mentioned his intentions of moving up a division, it appears Adesanya will likely take action first when he challenges for the 205-pound title possibly in March, when Blachowicz intends on returning.
And Bareman thinks Jones is trying to emulate Adesanya, who’s looking to conquer another weight class just three years into his UFC tenure.
“The only person that’s ever shown that pension for moving around weight divisions has been Israel,” Bareman told Submission Radio. “And then, of course, Jon Jones, being who he is, has followed in Israel’s footsteps. Which is funny, because he’s meant to be the guy that’s already established himself there, but Israel’s got that guy dancing to the beat of whatever Israel rhythm he puts out.”
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Adesanya, who’s successfully defended his middleweight title twice, has said on numerous occasions that he’s willing to move all the way up to heavyweight to face Jones, which Bareman thinks is a true testament to the belief in his abilities.
“Look, the two fighters you’re talking about, they have very different mindsets,” Bareman said. “That’s the first thing that’s obvious. Jon Jones hasn’t moved up. He hasn’t done anything about … he hasn’t talked about moving up, and he hasn’t wanted to move up for a decade. Israel approaches the sport very differently to Jon Jones. Israel is a real advocate for supreme martial arts, being extremely good to the point where size and weight doesn’t matter.
“He believes in that concept. He believes in that theory. He believes that, at the end of the day when all the chips fall, it will be skills that will win over size and strength, something that Jon Jones, he doesn’t have that inside of himself, which is why he’s waited so long to move up. But Israel’s a different case. He wants to go and test out his skills against a much bigger human being because he believes in them.”
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