Mike Winkeljohn Believes Israel Adesanya is Too Small to Challenge Jon Jones

Coach Mike Winkeljohn believes that if Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya do meet inside the Octagon, all the hype will give way to a one-sided conclusion.

Reigning UFC light heavyweight and middleweight champions Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya have been involved in a war of words for several months now, and Adesanya claims that the war will turn physical in 2021 in Raiders Stadium. Longtime coach of Jon Jones Mike Winkeljohn believes that there are two factors that will lead to a dominant Jones victory:

“Jones beats him in so many places because of his skill and size,” Winkeljohn said. “But, Israel is an incredible strike, there is no doubt about it, and has good wrestling defense. But, he needs to gain weight before he thinks about fighting Jon. Like everybody, he is looking to challenge the top dog to get his name out there and the top dog is Jon. If it happens, it is down the road.”

As certain as Adesanya is that the fight will take place, it all comes back to the size component that will determine if the fight ever comes to pass:

“That would be up to Jon if he stays at light heavyweight,” Winkeljohn said. “If Jon goes up to heavyweight by then, it is hard to bounce back down. It is not that easy to change 15-pounds efficiently and still fight. We have to make a decision of going up and fighting for the belt or staying at 205 and cleaning out the division until Adesanya wants to come up.”

As for their next contests, Israel Adesanya is still awaiting the name for his first middleweight title defense, though he has eyed Yoel Romero as an ideal opponent. As for Jon Jones, he will be headlining UFC 247 against Dominick Reyes on February 8th from Houston, Texas.