Coach: If Israel Adesanya can get business done at 185, we will push to fight Stipe Miocic

Israel Adesanya’s head coach, Eugene Bareman, is serious about his star student eventually moving up to heavyweight.

Although UFC middleweight champion Adesanya (18-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) doesn’t cut much weight to make the 185-pound limit, his mentor at City Kickboxing in New Zealand sees Adesanya clearing out the division, then going after UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic.

“Fighting at heavyweight is not a problem for Israel,” Bareman told “Submission Radio.” “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.

“But Israel stated, and I think it’s a very good plan, he’s going to do his thing in the middleweight division. There’s some really tough challenges. 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?”

Adesanya has been active since joining the UFC roster in 2018 with seven fights. He won the interim middleweight title in a war with Kelvin Gastelum, then had a near flawless performance over Robert Whittaker to unifying the title.

He is set to make his first title defense at UFC 248 against Yoel Romero, and while Adesanya is adamant he still has a few challenges to get through at 185, Bareman says the plan is to then move up and conquer another division.

He would skip over light heavyweight champ Jon Jones’ division, though, to make a run at heavyweight.

“For him – and we’ve done it in all the sports that we’ve participated in – it’s to move up in weight,” Bareman said. “And trust me, if he has these three or four more middleweight fights, we will push to fight Stipe, 100 percent.”

Adesanya has expressed interest in fighting Jones, but Bareman would need a lot of convincing for that fight. He has said he’s not a fan of Jones as a person and doesn’t see the need for them to fight.

“I mean, that’s the thing – it’s not up to Israel,” Bareman said. “I make the decision on the fight. 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 going to happen. It’s not even Israel’s call.”

But as for Miocic, that’s a matchup Bareman definitely sees happening down the line.

“That’s the fight,” he said. “I mean, I was half joking to get the attention off all this Jon Jones stuff, but that’s a serious – I’m making a claim there – serious stake. 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. So, yeah, let’s see if that hurries along Jon Jones.”