Israel Adesanya has insisted that a future fight with Jon Jones will still happen despite his defeat up at light-heavyweight against Jan Blachowicz.
Many believed Adesanya would become two-weight champion but the power and size of the Polish champion was too much for him at UFC 259.
Jones is moving up to heavyweight, so the chances of him taking on the middleweight champion seem slim.
The American has engaged in a war of words with Adesanya for months and took pleasure in seeing his rival beaten earlier this month.
He tweeted, “If you ever wrote me talking s*** about Izzy beating me, slap yourself.”
And in response to Adesanya’s coach talking up the fight, he said, “Your boy has almost no take down defence or offense off his back. Now you’re just being a cloud trout, if you would honestly send him in there against a 260lb wrestler after that last performance, you don’t care about his wellbeing.”
But Adesanya is adamant that he will step into the cage with Jones at some point.
When asked by ESPN if the fight was dead, he said, “Hell no! This is just a valley in my story. In any movie, in any anime series, you always have the valleys and you rise up from that.”