Tyson Fury has declared to UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya that under no circumstances will he step into the octagon in his latest U-turn.
The world heavyweight boxing champion has previously insisted he would be willing to make his cage debut in order to face a multitude of UFC champions, but later switched that to a hybrid rules boxing bout. Now, however, he claims he will never have a fight in the octagon amid his recent feud with Jon Jones.
Heavyweight champion Jones is no stranger to Adesanya, previously indicating that he would have been interested in defending his light-heavyweight belt against the Nigerian. That bout never materialised and the American pumped up to heavyweight, where he has now found himself in a rift with Fury.
But the Brit is not interested in getting into the cage, telling Adesanya that he isn't keen to follow in the footsteps of Claressa Shields in a new YouTube video. "I ain't getting in no cage," he declared. "Not to scrap with you - I'm a straight up boxer, Queensbury rules brother."
Fury earlier this month insisted he would be interested in boxing either Jones or the man who vacated his heavyweight belt Francis Ngannou, who plans to make the switch this year. But he would only do it in the ring, posting to Instagram : "If you guys want to fight me it’s got to be under boxing rules. I don’t roll round the floor, I stand up and punch.”
UFC President Dana White offered Fury a chance to make the Jones bout happen inside the UFC octagon, telling BroBible : “Jon Jones is the baddest dude on the planet. There's no debate, there's no denying it. I don't care what anybody says, they can try to spin it, a lot of this stuff is clickbait and you know how I am.
"If Tyson Fury really wants to fight Jon Jones in the UFC I will make it happen, here's my thing, right now; 'Tyson if you’re serious let me know', Tyson and I have a good relationship. I like Tyson Fury and if he's serious let's find out. Listen, we can talk all we want, Tyson can talk, Jon can talk, I can talk, we can all talk let’s do it.
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"If Tyson's serious then we can all do it. Listen, I got Floyd Mayweather to fight, we paid Floyd and got Floyd the number he wanted. If Tyson Fury is serious and he wants to fight Jon Jones in the UFC then let's start talking."
Jones, a pound-for-pound UFC great, is known better for his grappling than striking - although he has his share of impressive highlights on the feet. And he has admitted that he would struggle in the ring with Fury while insisting that his rival would have no chance in any sort of street fight or MMA-rules contest.
Jones tweeted: "Hey Tyson, it seems like Joe may have struck a nerve. I’ll admit there’s no one touching you in that ring right now, but let’s not let that confuse you with what would happen if you stepped foot in my cage. If you ever want to put some of those questions you got going on to rest, give Dana a call. I’ll help you out."
