Israel Adesanya was left stunned by Jon Jones' win over Cyril Gane which saw his UFC rival become heavyweight champion.
UFC superstar Jones was making his long-awaited comeback at UFC 285 when he took on Cyril Gane for the heavyweight title in Las Vegas. And 'Bones' once again delivered a history-making performance, choking out the French contender in the opening round to secure a title at a second weight class.
Jones stunned many with his method of victory given he dominated from the opening bell and completely outclassed Gane who was considered a leading contender. Adesanya, who is notoriously not a big fan of Jones given their heated online exchanges, watched the fight on his YouTube channel and issued a trademark reaction video.
Adesanya settled down to watch the fight and was visibly confused from the offset given fans and himself were unsure if the choke hold was in place after just a minute of the bout. Gane tapped extremely abruptly which left Adesanya stunned with his jaw gaping wide and his hands waving as if in protest in the air.
He shouted during the exchange: " Oh! What the f***. No, what did he do? That was so subtle… Wow. Pressure on the head. I wanted more, but f**k, that’s impressive... The way he did it, easily, that was shocking.” Adesanya then appeared to double in half as if disappointed with the result given his feud with Jones.
Despite rare praise from Jones to Adesanya last month, it appears that the scores are nowhere near settled despite the pair now being two weight classes apart. A fight between the pair now seems extremely unlikely, and Adesanya himself will now need to focus on regaining his middleweight crown in a rematch with Alex Pereira.
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Jones appears to have solidified his status as the greatest UFC fighter of all-time which will likely also frustrate Adesanya despite his protests. It is uncertain what is next for 'Bones' but he is expected to next face the challenge of Stipe Miocic who will be in line for the shot following the title clash.
The new champion has also been linked with a clash against Francis Ngannou but this will now be extremely difficult given Ngannou has departed the UFC. And the Cameroon star has admitted that Jones' contract with the promotion will likely prevent the pair from ever touching gloves.
Ngannou said on his YouTube channel: "I knew that if Jon shows up in a good space mentally - not like his last two fights - he's going to prevail in this fight, but I didn't see this fight being so short. That was quite a great performance from Jon. The fight that I would have liked to have, but unfortunately we are not there. That fight didn't happen and probably will never happen now that he's on a very long contract with the UFC so that's not happening anymore."
