During an interview with Brett Okamoto, Israel Adesanya reacted to the barrage of insults he received from Jon Jones on Twitter this week.
Recently, Israel Adesanya made several comments about a potential octagon showdown against the light heavyweight champion. Jon Jones’ was not impressed with the call out and attacked the 30-year-old in a heated rant.
.@stylebender Keep convincing yourself that one day you’ll be ready to face a boss like me. I’ll keep convincing myself that when that day comes, I will make you my absolute bitch.
— BONY (@JonnyBones) October 2, 2019
You said you saw me fight in person against Thiago and I didn’t look the same. I also got to see you fight KG, didn’t need to be in person. You were almost knocked out on more than one occasion
— BONY (@JonnyBones) October 2, 2019
Thiago couldn’t even touch my face and he grew up kickboxing. You only got to see my striking that night and now you’re convinced you’ll beat me? Let me see you in a wrestling match or a jujitsu tournament, you probably wouldn’t even place.
— BONY (@JonnyBones) October 2, 2019
I can see you’re starting to sip your own Kool-Aid, I know how it feels, I’ve been there before. Only I was around 23. Just don’t become delusional kid, fuck with a beast like me and I will expose you.
— BONY (@JonnyBones) October 2, 2019
Here’s how Adesanya responded:
“I didn’t talk about him, he’s the one that’s tweeting about me,” he said. “People ask me about him and I can’t just ignore the question, I’m going to respond. So yeah, if I get asked about him I’ll say whatever I have to say (but) he’s the one that’s Tweeting, I haven’t talked to him, I haven’t mentioned him. He came at me, so let him talk. He’s just a big talker.”
Adesanya recently stated that he believes he’ll fight Jon Jones in 2021. He’s standing by his decision to lay out these loose plans.
“I don’t know it was a moment, I just felt it,” he said. “I want to let people know. There’s a method to my madness. There’s a reason why all this sh*t is happening, because I put it out there. A lot of people never put their dreams out there cause they are scared to fall. I’m not one to shy away from it, I put it out there so people know. I put it out there so when I make it happen I say ‘told you so’. I’m not scared to fail, I’m not scared to succeed.”
While it seems Israel Adesanya has touched a nerve with Jon Jones, his focus is first and foremost the middleweight title bout against Robert Whittaker. ‘The Reaper’ will be looking to dismantle Adesanya before he has the chance to consider facing the 205-pound champion.
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This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/4/2019.