HERE we GO
#UFC295 pic.twitter.com/GXDsNxjSEH— Sherdog (@sherdogdotcom)
July 7, 2023
Heavyweights will take over Madison Square Garden in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s annual return
to New York City.
On Friday night, the UFC announced
that UFC
295 will be held on Nov. 11 in New York. As part of its yearly
card in Madison Square Garden, it is putting its biggest foot
forward with a heavyweight championship collision in the main
attraction. Heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones
(27-1, 1 NC) will put his gold strap up for grabs against ex-champ
Stipe
Miocic (20-4) in the main attraction, in a battle originally
considered for International Fight Week in July. This will be the
seventh year in a row the UFC has staged a November-based PPV in
The Big Apple, but just the second time a heavyweight title has sat
atop the billing.
Jones came back from a three-year self-imposed retirement in March
to move up to the largest division with the company. There, he took
on and strangled former interim beltholder Ciryl Gane
in just over two minutes with a guillotine choke. This lifted the
win streak of “Bones” to five in a row, for his first submission
victory since tapping Vitor
Belfort with a keylock in 2012. Dating back to March 2010,
Jones has embarked on a 19-fight unbeaten streak inside the
Octagon, with that lone blemish a no contest after Jones failed a
post-fight drug test.
This will be Miocic’s first fight in over two and a half years, as
he last set foot in a cage in March 2021 in the headliner of UFC
260. Surrendering his throne to Francis
Ngannou in a rematch, Miocic claimed he would only return for a
championship bout going forward. The three outings prior to the
Ngannou loss came in the form of a trilogy with Daniel
Cormier where he won two of the three to remain with the crown
at its conclusion. The Cleveland native is still holds the longest
reign of any heavyweight champion in the UFC, as he defended three
times against Alistair
Overeem, Junior dos
Santos and Ngannou in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively.