Jones: If Adesanya 'really wanted to fight me, he would do it'

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones doesn't think the weight difference between him and Israel Adesanya is a good enough reason for the middleweight champ not to fight him.

"A lot of people talk about, 'Oh, why are you forcing Israel to go to light heavyweight? You never went to heavyweight,'" Jones said at the UFC 247 press conference on Friday in Las Vegas.

"There's a gigantic jump between me and the heavyweights. Me and Izzy, we're only 15, 20 pounds apart. If Izzy really wanted to fight me, he would do it. Izzy's a pussy ... and there's really no way around it."

Adesanya won the 185-pound title in October with a second-round knockout of Robert Whittaker. Pundits immediately started talking about the possibility of "The Last Stylebender" moving up in weight to challenge "Bones" for a second belt, but Adesanya said he wanted to stay put for a while to focus on defending the title in his own division.

Since then, Jones and Adesanya have traded barbs on social media.

"It's unfortunate that me and him have to take things this way," Jones said. "At the end of the day, if Israel wanted to fight me, that would be a gigantic fight for the sport."

Jones is a two-time light heavyweight champ and the current pound-for-pound king in the UFC. He has defended the belt twice since recapturing it in December 2018.

The 32-year-old is scheduled to fight Dominick Reyes in the UFC 247 main event on Feb. 8 in Houston.

Adesanya's first title defense has yet to be scheduled.