Israel Adesanya was praised by his friend and fellow African-born fighter Francis Ngannou. The Cameroonian lauded the defending UFC middleweight champion for regularly defending his belt while Jon Jones is focused on "talking sh*t" on social media.
After the UFC 276 headliner where Israel Adesanya defeated Jared Cannonier, 'The Predator' posted on Twitter:
"Since Jones been siting back and talking sh*t Izzy have defended his title a least 5 times. Well done CHAMP 🏆 @stylebender Some people talk and some act. 🇳🇬🇨🇲🌍 #3kings"
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This was undoubtedly a response to Jones’ tweet, where the American replied to a fan’s statement, saying he would beat both Stipe Miocic and Ngannou:
“At this point I’m looking to fight Stipe, I think it proves a lot more. Fighting a fairly one-dimensional fighter fresh off of knee surgery. I don’t know, I believe beating Stipe says more at this point”
Adesanya became the middleweight champion at UFC 243, where he defeated Robert Whittaker. He has now defended the strap five times. In his reign, 'The Last Stylebender' has beaten Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa, Marvin Vettori, Whittaker (in a rematch) and, most recently, Jared Cannonier at UFC 276.
Jon Jones’ last fight took place at UFC 247 back on February 8, 2020. ‘Bones’ successfully defended his light heavyweight title against Dominick Reyes. He vacated it in August of the same year and, during his hiatus, announced that he was targeting a move to the heavyweight division.
According to UFC president Dana White, ‘Bones’ will fight either Miocic or Ngannou in his heavyweight debut.
Israel Adesanya on Jon Jones’ tweet about his nails and Frozen reference
In another tweet, Jones made fun of Adesanya’s in-cage interview, where he threatened Alex Pereira “to put him on skates.” 'Bones' also took a dig at the middleweight champion for his "glossy fingernails."
The Nigerian-born New Zealander was informed of the tweet during his post-fight interview with BT Sport. ‘The Last Stylebender’ advised the former UFC light heavyweight titleholder to fix his life:
“That’s why insecure [censored] who are insecure in themselves and they’re like… Bro, change your life, fix your life… do whatever. Why he’s even tweeting about me? He hasn’t even got a fight. Fight. Jump up in weight, do whatever you got to do.”
Watch Israel Adesanya respond to Jon Jones in the video below:
Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya have met in the kickboxing ring before on two occasions. In their first fight at Glory of Heroes 1 in April 2016, the Brazilian defeated the Nigerian-born fighter via unanimous decision. In a rematch at Glory of Heroes 7 in March 2017, Pereira won via a vicious knockout in the third round.