Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones will probably never be friends, but according to Adesanya, you don’t kick a man when he’s down. At least, not much.

Two weeks ago, Jones was once again arrested, this time on charges of aggravated DWI and negligent use of a firearm. Jones quickly pled guilty to the charges and received four days of house arrest and one year of probation. And though this latest legal snafu for Jones presents Adesanya a golden opportunity to take shots at his bitter rival, the UFC middleweight champion has mostly refrained from commenting on Jones situation aside from a couple of Tweets immediately after the news of Jones’ arrest broke, because, according to Adesanya, that would violate his code.

“I did put some memes up because you have to give the people what they want, but at the end of the day, there’s some stuff that I said privately to my people that’s not gonna go out,” Adesanya told ESPN recently. “Some stuff that meme-worthy wasn’t really kosher, even for my code.”

What started out as respectful banter between Jones and Adesanya quickly turned into one of MMA’s most bitter feuds. For the past year and a half, the two champions have hurled insults at one another through the media, all setting up for a potential superfight down the line. But even though there is clearly no love lost between the two, Adesanya said that Jones’ latest arrest is not a cause for celebration, echoing Daniel Cormier’s thoughts on the matter.

“He’s a young black man at the top of his game and he’s throwing it all away,” Adesanya said. “A lot of what DC said, same thing. Like, I felt bad for him when I watched the body cam footage as well. At the end, when he was just sobbing, I felt bad for him. Because I can imagine myself in that position. And I even bet you in the back of the squad car, he’s thinking, ‘F*ck, Israel’s gonna have a lot of material with this one.’ I bet you. I swear to God. But, like I said, a lot of it’s never going to see the light of day because it’s funny for me but at the same time I feel sad to see a young, black, skinny [expletive] who wishes he had the career at the beginning like I am right now, and he’s just throwing it all away. So I’ve taken lessons from watching a guy like him pave the way, if you will, and I won’t repeat the same mistakes. I’ll make my own. Sex tape dropping 2020! Get ready.”

That being said, Adesanya wasn’t above cracking wise about Jones punishment for his crime: four days of house arrest in the middle of a global pandemic that is forcing most people to stay home already.

“Bro, we’re all stuck at home,” Adesanya joked. “What do you expect? ‘Ooo, we’re gonna put him on home detention. Oh no.’”

Adesanya quickly pivoted back though, saying that even if Jones’ punishment may seem light, it’s still going to be a bad experience for the light heavyweight champion.

“Nah, he’s gonna suffer. I feel bad. Put it this way, I wouldn’t want to be in a house with him right now. That’s just all I’ll say. . . I said it in one of my posts about quarantine, like staying strong because a lot of people spend time with their families and realize they don’t like them, and a lot of people fix their relationship with their spouses, with their fathers, with their mothers, whatever, and I just feel like something like that happen in my household would just dampen the whole atmosphere. It just sucks. It sucks to be him.”

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Julia Avila (7-1) vs. Karol Rosa (12-3); UFC Fight Night, May 2.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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