Israel Adesanya's coach Eugene Bareman has revealed their audacious plan of targeting the heavyweight championship if he won the light-heavyweight title at UFC 259.
Adesanya aimed to become a two-weight champion at UFC 259 but failed via a unanimous decision to Jan Blachowicz. Most people assumed that this fight would lead to an eventual showdown with Jon Jones which has been teased much over the last few months. But Bareman has now revealed the sensational plan to target becoming a triple champion in UFC and target Stipe Miocic if he defeats Francis Ngannou in their rematch at UFC 260.
“I think I can answer this because it is beside the point now, we lost. If we won the title, for me and our management team and our team, we were going to go all the way,” Bareman said of Israel Adesanya to Sirius XM (h/t BJPenn.com). “Why stop there? We were going to go up, but nothing to do with Jon Jones. Israel has stated he’s too close to Francis Ngannou to fight him. But, if Miocic won we were going to go all the way 100 percent.”
--"Israel has stated that he's too close to Francis Ngannou to fight him, but if Miocic won, we were going all the way, 100%." - Eugene Bareman of @citykickboxing1 revealed to @jimmysmithmma that Israel Adesanya wanted the heavyweight title next, had he won at #UFC259 pic.twitter.com/o9E6jz6n4d
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) March 8, 2021
Although more fans would have been keen on seeing Adesanya vs. Jones had he won, Bareman says Jones was never in their plans. Instead, it was about making history and winning titles in three different weight classes.
“Jon Jones, he doesn’t come into any of our planning. When we are planning Israel’s career, he doesn’t exist in any of those decisions,” Bareman said of Adesanya’s plans after UFC 259. “The only person that exists in Jon Jones’ head and life is Israel… If we beat Blachowicz we were going to try and do what has never been done before. Given that Miocic wins.”
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