UFC great Jon Jones has sent a stern warning to Israel Adesanya that he’d tear off one of the Kiwi champion’s arms if they met in the octagon.
Jones and Adesanya have thrown verbal jabs back and forth for months while constantly talking about a potential fight, but those discussions ramped up shortly after Adesanya’s impressive title defence against Paulo Costa on Sunday.
During his post-fight press conference, Adesanya said he wants to “f*** up Jones”, but he would discuss it more with his trainer because Jones has since moved to the heavyweight division.
Before the move, Jones was a two-time UFC light-heavyweight champion who successfully defended his title 11 times but had to give up the belt twice.
Jones vacated the belt earlier this year for his move to heavyweight, which is where punters believe a fight between the two would take place.
The UFC currently gives Jones the upper hand, ranking him No.1 in their pound-for-pound rankings, but Adesanya sits just two spots back in third, after leapfrogging heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic with Sunday’s performance.
But Jones said in an explosive Instagram post the Kiwi-Nigerian relies too much on his legwork and he would be punished brutally for it.
"You don’t want real confrontation with me, I’m not gonna just stand there and kickbox with you,” Jones wrote.
"I’ve been preparing for heavyweights, right around now I would literally tear one of your arms off.”
In fact, Jones suggested Adesanya was only talking up a fight between them to raise his own status.
“You’ve stepped into the ring over 100 times now and you’re still not ready!?” asked Jones.
"You have a youth advantage and like four times the fighting experience.
"The truth is you’re already my p****, you love being undefeated and you’ve seen what’s happened to everyone else.
"It raises your stock to mention my name, you’re aware of this.”
In the meantime though, Adesanya is eyeing up third-ranked middleweight Jared Cannonier, on the condition he beats No.1 contender and former champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 254.
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