City Kickboxing Coach Outlines Plan for Israel Adesanya to Face Stipe Miocic

Israel Adesanya apparently has designs on moving up in weight once he extends his reign at middleweight, but the targeted opponent does not reside in the division one might expect.

In a recent interview with Submission Radio, City Kickboxing coach Eugene Bareman revealed that Adesanya would eventually like to square off against heavyweight titlist Stipe Miocic.

“Israel stated, and I think it’s a very good plan, he’s gonna do his thing in the middleweight division. There’s some really tough challenges,” Bareman said. “He should clear those out. There’s at least three or four more good challenges. But three or four more fights for Israel is like maybe within this year. So, after that, what’s the next challenge? For him, and we’ve done it in all the sports that we’ve participated in, it’s to move up in weight. And trust me, if he has these three or four more middleweight fights, we will push to fight Stipe [Miocic], 100 percent.

“If Israel can get the business done at middleweight, and if he’s successful, he will definitely look to move and challenge Stipe. That’s a serious thing. But for us, we’re not paying immediate attention to it. There’s just so much that we have to put our concentration into now that it’s on the back burner. It’s in the back of our minds.”

Adesanya is scheduled to face Yoel Romero at UFC 248 in Las Vegas on March 7. Should he emerge victorious, a date with Paulo Henrique Costa would likely await. When it comes to superfights outside of the division, however, Adesanya vs. Jon Jones has been the topic du jour. The two have bickered on social media in recent months after “The Last Stylebender” expressed interest in a bout with the UFC light heavyweight champion in 2021.

Bareman says that ultimately whether or not that bout would come to fruition is his decision as head trainer.

“I mean, that’s the thing, it’s not up to Israel. I make the decision on the fight,” Bareman said. “So, come 2021, Israel has to convince me that we should fight Jon Jones. And if I don’t feel that we have to, then it’s not gonna happen. It’s not even Israel’s call.

“There’s a lot of things that [Adesanya] would have to do [to convince me], and a lot of those things that he’d have to do to fight Jon start now, that’ve already started. There’s a lot of stuff that we have to do. For all of Jon Jones’ faults as a person, he’s still a very, very good fighter and to prepare for someone of that nature, who’s that good, the prep for that sort of fight starts now. Yeah, but I’ve already stated that I don’t think that fight’s necessary. . . I think we’re on a different path, I just think we’re on a different journey. Israel’s got a lot of convincing to do before that fight happens.”

While there would seem to be a significant size discrepancy between Adesanya and Miocic, Bareman claims that would not be a major concern.

“Fighting at heavyweight is not a problem for Israel,” Bareman said “He’s not going to weigh heavyweight. That wouldn’t be what our advantage is. He would never weigh at what a heavyweight would [weigh]. We’d fight at our walk-around weight, which is like barely past what the middleweight limit is.”