Stipe
Miocic (20-4) recently responded to critics of his UFC 309
title shot booking against Jon Jones
(27-1).
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Miocic was originally scheduled to challenge Jones for the
heavyweight title at UFC 295 in November 2023 before “Bones” was
forced out with an injury. Tom
Aspinall knocked out Sergei
Pavlovich in a short-notice interim title fight on the same
card.
While Aspinall initially called for Jones to be stripped of the
title, he later started rallying for a title unification bout
against Jones. “Honey Badger” even defended his interim strap with
a KO win over Curtis
Blaydes at UFC 304 this past July. However, Jones remained
adamant on fighting Miocic upon his return, leading to their
main-event booking at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden
in New York.
Miocic last fought at UFC 260 in 2021, when he lost his strap to
Francis
Ngannou via brutal KO. While many consider Aspinall the
rightful title contender, the UFC has defended the booking, citing
Miocic’s status as arguably the greatest heavyweight of all time.
As for Miocic, he merely called for his shot and the UFC gave it to
him without having to do much. Miocic also believes that with the
shared legacy between him and Jones, more people want to see this
fight rather than “Bones” fight Aspinall.
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“It wasn’t my choice. It’s a fight I wanted, and the UFC gave it to
me,” Miocic told MMAFighting.com. “They didn’t have to. They
gave it to me… I believe people want to see that. I think a lot
more people want to see the fight than him fight Aspinall.”
Aspinall might never get to fight either Jones and Miocic, as both
have repeatedly hinted at retirement following their UFC 309 clash.
Jones’ longtime coach, Brandon Gibson, also recently said that he’s
approaching this as “the last rodeo.” And while Miocic is also
approaching it similarly, it’s nothing new for him.
“I think every fight, I’m always preparing for my last one,” Miocic
said. “I always thought about retiring after my first UFC fight. I
say that all the time. Who wants to get beat up for 10 weeks, 12
weeks, come back and do it again? I love what I do and it’s fun.
So, we’ll see but right now my task at hand is Jon. That’s all I
care about. That’s what I’m thinking about.”