{"id":340357,"date":"2020-02-06T12:33:35","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T20:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=340357"},"modified":"2020-02-06T12:33:35","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T20:33:35","slug":"israel-adesanya-jon-jones-needs-me-if-he-wants-to-stay-relevant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-jon-jones-needs-me-if-he-wants-to-stay-relevant\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Adesanya: Jon Jones ‘needs me if he wants to stay relevant’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel Adesanya believes Jon Jones needs him in order to stay relevant.<\/p>\n

Adesanya, the reigning UFC middleweight champ, took this shot at the UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones during a recent interview with ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t need him. Actually, I\u2019ll say he needs me if he wants to stay relevant,\u201d Adesanya said (transcript via MMA Junkie<\/a>). \u201cBecause he\u2019s already done a lot in his legacy which is tainted by other things he\u2019s done outside the ring but, for right now to stay relevant, to stay current, he needs me.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can keep trying, but he\u2019s got someone else to worry about right now this weekend with Dominick Reyes, so he better focus on that rather than focusing on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Adesanya has repeatedly shared his interest in a fight with Jones, he’s stated he doesn’t want the fight to happen until 2021.<\/p>\n

In his interview with ESPN, however, he acknowledged that he could take the fight now if he wanted. He simply chose to defend his middleweight title first for the benefit of the division.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I have to,\u201d Adesanya said. \u201cI could have done my next fight (vs.) Jones if I wanted to, but this division has been held up for so long because the former champion (Robert Whittaker) was pulling out of fights, was sick, and was holding up the division. So for me, I have to do right like the greats. Like Anderson Silva who defended 12 times, the greats like him. I want to do right by the division and defend my belt, so I\u2019m saying if you want to come down and see me, come see me, but let me get my job done first.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got (Paulo) Costa, (Jared) Cannonier, Darren Till is a fresh new name,” Adesanya added. “If Kelvin (Gastelum) can re-up and get back on the chopping block, he can get it, but there\u2019s a few other guys that I want to get to \u2013 not have to, I want to get to. I want to defend my belt a few more times before I step up and fight someone like Jon Jones.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you think of these comments from Israel Adesanya? How do you think Jon Jones will react?<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i>BJPENN.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0on 2\/6\/2020.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israel Adesanya believes Jon Jones needs him in order to stay relevant. Adesanya, the reigning UFC middleweight champ, took this shot at the UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones during a recent interview with ESPN. \u201cI don\u2019t need him. Actually, I\u2019ll say he needs me if he wants to stay relevant,\u201d Adesanya said (transcript via […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":319123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[39449,10091,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nIsrael Adesanya: Jon Jones 'needs me if he wants to stay relevant' | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya believes UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones needs him in order to stay relevant.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-jon-jones-needs-me-if-he-wants-to-stay-relevant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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