Israel Adesanya expresses his gratitude for the recent praise from Jon Jones.
Despite belonging to different weight divisions, Adesanya, the reigning UFC middleweight champion, and Jones, the heavyweight champion, seemed destined for a collision in the past. The two engaged in verbal sparring when Jones held the light heavyweight title, but a fight never materialized.
However, it seems that both fighters have moved on from their previous animosity. In a recent interview with The Sporting News, Jones openly admitted that Adesanya is his favorite fighter. Adesanya initially found it hard to believe when he was informed of the quote but eventually became convinced and appreciated the sentiment.

โGrowth is something you have to go through as a human being, as a man especially,โ Adesanya said onย IMPAULSIVE. โMaturityโฆ I came to the UFC โ itโs up to him to admit this, I felt like he was a fan but then he was kind of like, โAh, thereโs another coming in this game and just taking the shine.โ
โBut thereโs enough room for us to shine. This is not like a โ even I said it about Henry Cejudo when he was talking sh*t about me. Iโm not even in your weight class, youโre a munchkin. You donโt have to hate on me for doing what Iโm doing. We can be in our own lanes and be great.โ

Adesanya said heโs been a longtime fan of Jones, and it was โBonesโ who started their beef. But for โThe Stylebender,โ the hatchet is buried.
โIโve been a fan of Jon since I saw him at UFC 94,โ Adesanya continued. โHe fought Stephan Bonnar, rest in peace. I saw what he did in that fight. I was a fan, I think he was as well. Then he mentioned something like, โOh, Iโd like to fight Israel.โ Why the f*ck does this guy want to fight me? Iโm middleweight.
โBut then I responded back and we had beef. For a few years, it was like that then after I fought (Paulo) Costa it went really deep then and that was around the time it could have happened but I donโt know what happened, scheduling, COVID reasons, whatever. I fought Jan (Blachowicz). Yeah. Real recognize real, Iโll put it that way.โ