Putting Together The Greatest Fight In Combat Sports History

Ever since Israel Adesanya absolutely decimated long-time rival Paulo Costa in their highly anticipated historic Middleweight title fight at UFC 253 he’s been quite the social media warrior as he’s been able to keep his name in the headlines as much as any fighter not named McGregor. He's definitely made sure to rub the big win into his long-time rival as he's been going back and forth with Costa over the past week (who as a fan, needs to shut up and train after such an embarrassing performance). But it seems like Adesanya has a new rivalry brewing and it's EXTREMELY intriguing. Jon Jones in case you forgot, is still the No. 1 ranked Pound-For-Pound fighter in the world and many already consider him to be the GOAT. Now this isn’t a new topic whatsoever as their beef goes all the way back to April 2019 before Adesanya even became the Interim Champ against Kelvin Gastelum. But over the past couple of days the twitter jabs have gotten really really personal and it looks like the rivalry is getting to its boiling point. They've definitely put the fans on notice and speculation is really starting to build up. Now we’re all asking ourselves “Is this fight actually going to happen?” Now, I’m not the one with the answer to that question, but I’ll definitely be the first one to tell you that this fight absolutely NEEDS to happen next year. Why? Because it’s virtually a lock to be the single biggest event in MMA history and maybe even in the history of combat sports. And yes that includes Mayweather-Pacquiao. Now, you might think I'm just buying into the hype or simply just flat out crazy for saying that but just hear me out.

Dana White is a really smart guy, he knows the massive revenue potential this fight has as well and he recently came out and said “That’s the fight to make, 100 percent.” When you hear those words come out of his mouth, history shows that you can bet your house on the fact that he’s gonna get it done. So at this point the only thing that’s stopping us from getting this historic matchup are the fighters themselves. Obviously we all know there are some potential roadblocks to making this happen. For starters, Jones just vacated his Light Heavyweight Championship to move up to Heavyweight. He's been talking about a move up to Heavyweight for years now, since 2013. Will he actually do it? I think so, since he actually vacated his belt. Will that move be permanent? Your guess is as good as mine. But does it really even matter for this fight? The answer is no. Again, you might think I'm talking crazy right now but I genuinely don’t think the weight difference will be a factor in getting this superfight booked. You would think that Adesanya simply cannot realistically fight at Heavyweight and that adding over 20 pounds to his skinny frame is too much for him. And that is definitely a fair concern in this situation. But he’s publicly said that he will jump up two weight classes and follow Jones to Heavyweight if that’s what it takes to fight him. Let me ask you this; how many times has Israel Adesanya said he was going to do something and then didn’t back it up? I can count one (watch the Yoel Romero fight). That’s it. Usually, when that man says he’s going to do something, he does it. And this is coming from someone who really hates Adesanya. I think Stylebender’s antics are cringy, he’s extremely corny and I think it’s funny how he’s rumored to have Gyno because if it’s true then that just proves that he has abnormally high estrogen levels for a male. But man, after watching his domination of Costa, who was 13-0 (11 KOs) going into the fight and universally considered the biggest threat to his throne, I simply cannot doubt him anymore he is a legitimate superstar. If he says he will go up to Heavyweight to fight Jon Jones then I believe him.

We know what Adesanya is doing next he's going to defend his belt against the winner of the Robert Whittaker and Jared Cannonier (he wants Cannonier) fight later this month and given that he fought a couple weeks ago I don’t think we’ll see him again until Early 2021. Now a lot of questions about this fight are going to be answered when we find out what Jones’ next move is. Will he fight new Light Heavyweight champ Jan Blachowicz and try to regain his throne? Or will he actually move up to Heavyweight and fight either Francis Ngannou (who he’s had beef with earlier this year) or try to get an immediate title shot against Stipe Miocic. Nobody knows but like I said before, since he actually vacated his belt I think he’s definitely moving up to Heavyweight. Now that the Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns fight has been officially taken off the UFC 256 card in December, that opens the door for Miocic-Ngannou 2 to slide right in as the main event for that card. I think Jones will fight the winner of that one in Mid 2021.

Now that we’ve cleared up the path to this superfight just picture this scenario:

Adesanya takes care of business in his next fight (Early 2021) which would put him at 21-0 and with wins over every warranted challenger in his division, I think it would be safe to say he'd have cleaned out his division and it’d be time to move up. Jones then beats Miocic or Ngannou a few months later and becomes the undisputed Heavyweight Champ, which would put him at 29 fights without a loss and make him just the 7th male fighter ever to be a champion in multiple weight classes which would in my opinion cement his legacy as the GOAT. Then in Late 2021 the stage would be set. Given that his last fight would be really early in the year, Adesanya would have the time to put on weight and make the jump up two weight classes to Heavyweight and fight Jones for the belt. Can you imagine how massive of a fight that would be? Bad Blood? Check. Trash Talk? Check. Storylines? Just Adesanya being the FIRST fighter EVER to move up not one but TWO weight classes to become a double champ, and doing it against the Greatest-Of-All-Time. Check. Arguably the two best Pound-For-Pound fighters in the world (Khabib may have something to say about that) going at it in their primes? With a really heated rivalry that would have more time to marinate and get even MORE heated by then? I think there is no question that this would absolutely smash the UFC record of 2.5 Million PPV buys set by Khabib-Conor and I think could even push the record for most PPV buys ever in combat sports, which is Mayweather-Pacquiao at 4.6 Million PPVs.

From a legacy standpoint, this fight makes much more sense for Adesanya as he has everything to gain and nothing to lose compared to Jones. Can you imagine if Stylebender gets it done? Being the FIRST person to EVER beat Jon Jones in 30 fights, and doing it after jumping up TWO weight classes? I think that makes him the GOAT. Even when you throw in the massive risk of staining his legacy, this fight still makes as much sense for Jones as it does for Adesanya. Why? Two words. Money Talks. If he wanted to retire after that fight, he’d be set for the rest of his life. Conor McGregor made $50 Million after losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229. Now if my prediction is accurate and you double the PPV buys for this fight, imagine how much he makes regardless of the result. The fans want it. The fighters want it. Dana White obviously wants it ($$$). At this point it’s not a matter of if it’s a matter of when.

The betting lines are all over the place for this one so I collected a random sample and made my own odds. Jones would open as a -270 favorite and Adesanya would open as a +285 underdog. Who you rolling with? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.