Jon Jones' narrow victory over Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 has only reinforced Israel Adesanya's view that the light heavyweight champion is past his prime. Jones scored a unanimous decision with scores of 48-47 48-47 and 49-46 at the Toyota Center in Houston, but many fans and pundits argued Reyes could have rightly been awarded the win. Reyes started strongly and took the fight to Jones before the longtime 205 pound champion rallied in the latter stages of the bout. Join DAZN and watch more than 100 fight nights a year Adesanya, who was in Houston for a media tour last week, is preparing for his UFC 248 middleweight title defense against Yoel Romero next month, but he has been linked to a bout with Jones. The two have traded insults in the media and on social media on plenty of occasions during Adesanya's rapid rise to prominence, and the 185-champion added to the exchange by saying he wasn't impressed with what he saw this past weekend. "I've seen him. I've seen what I needed to see," "The Stylebender" told Sporting News on Monday. "In the fifth round, he tried to turn it on, but he couldn't," Adesanya added. "Compare his fifth round to my fifth round against Kelvin Gastelum; there's a difference. "He's washed up. He’s done," Adesanya continued. "His best years are behind him. He's still great, but he’s washed up now. He wasn't doing s—. He was winning the rounds, but it wasn't really doing s—. He was trying, but there's levels to this." Adesanya says he scored the fight a draw, but he added to the criticism of judge Joe Solis, who scored the bout 4-1 for the champion. "It was close. There's ways you can look at that fight," he said. "Some people scored it Jones, some people scored it Dominick. Dominick thought he won the fight, Jones thought he won the fight. Some say draw. "I would have given it a draw, but it’s one of those things; they put it on the line and it was a good fight, but I give it a draw. "That (scoring) was ridiculous. Ridiculous. "I liked the conversation (commentators) Jon Anik, Joe Rogan and Dominic Cruz had after the fight, where they were appealing to the public, saying, 'Please, can we come together for the greater good of the sport?' "That was ridiculous. Whoever scored it like that, never judge again. Ever." As momentum for a Jones-Adesanya showdown continues to build, Adesanya reiterated his four-fight plan, which culminates in a light heavyweight debut next year. "I've seen what I needed to see; I'm the guy," he said. "First, I have to take care of Romero. I have to take care of Paulo Costa and possibly Jared Cannonier, but 2021 — I don’t care if [Jones is] still the champ or not — Raiders Stadium [in Las Vegas] in 2021, I'm going to go up there to 205 and do what I do." After his whirlwind U.S. media tour over the weekend, Adesanya is back in New Zealand putting the finishing touches on his training camp ahead of his first title defense March 8. It will be the third time Adesanya has headlined a pay-per-view card after wins over Rob Whittaker and Anderson Silva last year.
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