Daniel Cormier is not sure if Israel Adesanya can defeat Jon Jones — however, he believes it will be a heavyweight who eventually takes him out.
Jones is set to defend his light heavyweight title against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 on February 8. Reyes will be his biggest test in recent memory, but if Jones comes out on top again, there are two moves that fight fans want him from next.
One is a super fight with middleweight champion Adesanya. The other, which Jones has teased for a while, is a move up to heavyweight.
Cormier believes the latter is something Jones will eventually have to do.
“I think he’ll have to,” Cormier told BT Sport on whether Jones will move up. “He’ll have to escape his comfort zone a little bit. It’s scary for him. It’s scary for a lot of guys to change weight classes.
“There’s this heir of invincibility with Jones and for him to go up and take these chances, I imagine is very scary. I don’t know if he really wants to do that but I think he will at some point.”
As for a fight with Adesanya, it’s certainly possible down the line.
Although Cormier does feel “The Last Stylebender” has a chance, especially if Jones takes the wrong approach, he seems more confident that it will be a heavyweight who inflicts defeat on him by turning his lights off.
“I don’t know if he beats Jon Jones,” Cormier added of Adesanya’s chances. “I really don’t. Obviously, you guys know my feelings towards him [Jones] but he’s good, man. I think it’s going to take a heavyweight. It will be one of those big, big guys that shuts the lights out. I just don’t know if those guys can beat Jones over 25 minutes.
“He’s a good fighter, he has so many weapons. Look at me, I feel I’m one of the greatest fighters of all time and he beat me twice. That says a lot about who he is as a competitor. Can Israel fight him? Yes. Especially if Jon takes the wrong approach to fighting Izzy. When you fight Adesanya, you better go get some takedowns because if you stand with him, he’s dangerous for anybody.”
