Israel Adesanya laughs off Jon Jones’ ‘nerd’ comment as feud continues

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has laughed off the retort of Jon Jones as he focuses his attention on defending the undisputed title against Paulo Costa.

Adesanya is still basking in the glory of his triumph over Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 this past weekend as he was able to unify the championship in front of more than 57,000+ fans in Melbourne, Australia. It marked the crowning moment for the Nigerian-New Zealander who first stepped foot into a UFC cage back in February 2018.

However, one man that isn’t content to let Israel enjoy this moment in the sunshine is Jon Jones. The controversial light heavyweight king can’t resist poking the bear, calling his newly discovered rival a ‘nerd‘ after initially claiming that ‘The Last Stylebender’ lacked the confidence to fight him.

Adesanya isn’t sweating Jones’ comments. He responded on Twitter.

Lol neeeerd #nunchuckskills #bowhuntingskills pic.twitter.com/9ljBe6uBfa

— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) October 9, 2019

Looking forward to me next Tittle Defence.

— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) October 9, 2019

Jones’ last fight took place in July during UFC’s international fight week, where he was able to edge past Thiago Santos in a somewhat controversial split decision win. With the light heavyweight division looking thin and Jon not being convinced by a move to heavyweight, the talk for a potential dream fight between the veteran and Adesanya is growing by the day.

Alas, Adesanya has made it fairly clear that the next challenge for him will be Paulo Costa after the two men exchanged words following the conclusion of UFC 243’s main event.

Given the big push behind this fantasy becoming a reality, it seems like only a matter of time before the two champions are standing across from one another in the Octagon. The rivalry seems to be getting a little bit more personal with each and every shot that they take at one another, and while that could just be Jones and Adesanya building the interest for the fight, fans are still expecting fireworks if it actually goes down.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/9/2019.