In a recent interview with Submission Radio, Adesanya addressed his growing rivalry with light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones, in relation to the fact that Jones will likely move up to the heavyweight division eventually in his career.

Adesanya stated:

“I saw something on Instagram that by the time he goes to heavyweight the fight will be – who gives a f*** about weight? I’ve never given a f*** about weight. Since when? It’s never been an issue for me. I’ve been a heavyweight in boxing, in kickboxing. I’ll do it in again in MMA. So, it’s never been an issue for me. He can try and run to heavyweight, but I’ll chase him down. I’ll hunt him down if I have to.”

Adesanya continued:

“Yeah, let him go to heavyweight. Right now, I’m working at middleweight. If he wants to come, he can skip the line if he comes down to middleweight. I’ve said that already. But I’m sure he can’t do that because his frame won’t let him. So, let me do my work, shut the f*** up, and I’ll come see you when it’s time.”

Before any potential matchup between the two UFC superstars could take place, they both have fights lined up in the near future. Jon Jones is set to fight surging prospect, Dominic Reyes, in the headlining bout of this weekend’s UFC 247.

Adesanya had the following to say about Jones in the leadup to UFC 247:

“I know that when I’m fighting, he tries to talk sh*t about me when I’m fighting to try and take away the attention from my fight onto him, or to try like, you know, make it about him for whatever reason. But it’s my show. Yeah, but I don’t really care. If Dom wins, good on Dom, happy for him – and I think he’s got a big problem on his hands with Dominick Reyes as well. But if Dom wins, doesn’t matter, I’m still coming for that ass.”

Jon Jones is not convinced that Adesanya wants anything to do with him inside the Octagon. As reported by mmafighting.com, Jones said the following about Adesanya:

“At the end of the day, this isn’t K-1,” Jones said of Adesanya’s kickboxing background. “This isn’t whatever league he used to fight in. I’ve watched him stepping over here, and literally, I’ve watched him with his legs stiff. His swagger is exciting to the fans, but I know a thousand people like him. I grew up with people like him. He doesn’t impress me the way he impresses everyone else."

“He’s scared. That’s all it is. When he says you’ve got to respect the game or the game will humble you, he’s talking about not fighting me now or me beating his ass cause he’s scared. When you let a fighter like me know that you’re not prepared to fight me today and you wish you had another year to prepare and all that sh*t, it lets me know your mental state. That’s all I need to know.”

Adesanya has been booked to fight Yoel Romero on March 8^th in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is a fight which was long speculated on but is now official. Israel has already embarked upon his social media trash talk campaign against Romero ahead of this bout.

Romero is a fearsome opponent, having knockout victories over former UFC middleweight champions Chris Weidman and Luke Rockhold, and being described by MMA personality Brendan Schaub as resembling a ‘ninja turtle’ due to his impressive physique.

Whether we see Adesanya in a super-fight against Jones is largely contingent on him cleaning out the UFC Middleweight Division. We’ll find out in just over 4 weeks whether he has what it takes to get through the imposing figure that is Yoel Romero.