"It's up to him to admit this" - Israel Adesanya drops bombshell statement about Jon Jones rivalry

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has made a huge statement about his rivalry with Jon Jones.

'The Last Stylebender' and 'Bones' have been at odds for years. Interestingly, prior to Jones' move to the heavyweight division, a potential matchup between the two was discussed a number of times as well. However, the mega-fight never ended up happening.

During a recent appearance on Impaulsive, Israel Adesanya discussed his rivalry with Jon Jones and claimed that 'Bones' was actually a fan of his during his early days in the UFC but started to despise him when he started to get bigger. 'The Last Stylebender' said:

“I don’t even like to talk about this s*it. But like for me, growth is something you have to go through as a human being. As a man, especially, maturity. There was a point where we were, I came to the UFC. I feel like it’s up to him to admit this, but I felt like he was a fan, but he was kind of like ‘Ugh, there’s another one coming in and taking the shine’. But there’s enough room for us to shine.”

Catch Adesanya's comments in the video below (49:10):

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Israel Adesanya vs. Jon Jones: When is 'Bones' fighting next?

Jones returned to the octagon to finally make his UFC heavyweight debut earlier this year against Ciryl Gane. In what was a rather short night out for him, 'Bones' finished Gane in the very first round and became the UFC heavyweight champion. Following the fight, the reigning heavyweight champion called out Stipe Miocic, who is widely considered to be the greatest heavyweight of all time.

The bout was initially suggested to go down in July, however; it looks like fans will have to wait a little longer to see the two lock horns inside the octagon. As revealed by the UFC president Dana White himself, Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic is being worked upon for UFC 295 which will take place at the Madison Square Garden in November this year.

During an appearance on The Pat McAfee show, Dana White had this to say about Jones' next fight:

"Jon Jones....We are working on something for him later this year . Everybody knows that we are targeting MSG and possibly him and Stipe Miocic."

Catch Dana White's comments in the video below: