Middleweight title winner Israel Adesanya of New Zealand celebrates after defeating Robert Whittaker of Australia during the middleweight title bout of the UFC 243 fight night in Melbourne on October 6, 2019. (Photo by ASANKA BRENDON RATNAYAKE / AFP) / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE -- (Photo by ASANKA BRENDON RATNAYAKE/AFP via Getty Images)

UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, says he wouldn’t take a short-notice fight against UFC light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones.

Israel Adesanya is gearing up to face Yoel Romero and Jon Jones is gearing up to fight Dominick Reyes but you wouldn’t know that by looking at the recent headlines. It seems that everyone is itching about a Jones vs. Adesanya fight and completely ignoring the current title fights ahead of both men.

“This would not have happened if he didn’t start with my name,” Adesanya told FanSided. “You know, he was the first one that starting yelling about me a little bit too much and then everyone was like, ‘oh okay let’s see the fight’ but it’s here now and the fight will happen next year but he needs to focus on this fight. He’s got a tough task at hand.

I want to fight him next year because I’m still doing right by my division. You know, so in time.”

One thing that many fans and media have wondering is if Adesanya, who will be in Houston for his UFC 248 press conference would step in to fight Jones on short notice if something were to happen to Reyes, he assures us, that won’t be happening under any circumstance.

“I wouldn’t take a fight like that on short notice,” he said. “Even when Chael Sonnen was going to replace, I think Dan Henderson, to fight him on three days notice he declined. Because he realized, you know, he has to take a full camp. So for a guy like that, you need a full camp. You need to respect the game.”

Respecting the game is big to Adesanya, which is also why he agreed to fight someone that a lot of other middleweights hope to avoid — Yoel Romero. Adesanya revealed exactly why this fight was so important to him.

“Legacy,” he said. “Just to be able to stay I beat all the top-notch guys of my era, so that way when it’s all said and done, they can never say I ducked anyone. They can say ‘he fought everyone.’ And so that’s that’s my motivation.”

UFC 248 takes place on Saturday, March 7, 2020, live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Follow along with FanSided MMA, who will be on-site for all your live results and highlights.