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Israel Adesanya and his move up to light-heavyweight was the talk of the town ahead of his fight against Jan Blachowicz. While many reckon this was an attempt to achieve the coveted champ-champ status, Chael Sonnen believes otherwise. Sonnen believes the move-up was to entice Jon Jones to return to active contention.
In the most recent edition of his Beyond the Fight podcast, Sonnen broke down Israel Adesanya's ascension to light-heavyweight and what he was looking to get out of it.
"I still maintain to this day that the whole reason that Izzy went up and took on Blachowicz wasn't about the champ-champ status and had nothing to do with Blachowicz. It was to get the belt, welcome Jon Jones back and do the super-fight, right? Even if that's never been admitted to, that would make sense. And when Izzy moved up to 205lbs even when he had the fight with Blachowicz, he never talked about it. He talked about Jon!"
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Watch Chael Sonnen's video below:
Is an Israel Adesanya vs. Jon Jones super-fight still on the cards?
With Jon Jones bulking up for a debut at heavyweight and Israel Adesanya's return to middleweight after an unsuccessful debut at light heavyweight, the fighters have seemingly drifted away from a potential super-fight. However, 'The Last Stylebender' is still confident that a bout against Jon Jones awaits him.
While in conversation with Ariel Helwani on his resurgent show, The MMA Hour, Israel Adesanya addressed concerns regarding a potential fight against Bones.
“I don’t think we’re ever going to see Jon Jones fight at heavyweight. F*ck, he’s been saying this since 2013. I jumped into the division ahead of me. The guys up there respect me. So yeah, I just think it’s not something that anyone can do. And he’s getting fat for no reason now,” said Israel Adesanya.
Jon Jones and the UFC middleweight kingpin were at each other's throats on social media and during interviews. The stage for a mega-clash between the two is set. All they need to do now is say the word.
Check out an episode of The MMA Hour below:
