Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 ceremonial weigh-in Credit: Jake Noecker/Cageside Press
At the end of the day, Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic’s legacies are safe. After all, the whole point of their UFC 309 main event was to show off and push those legacies out of the reach of the rest of the teams.
A third reign at age 42 would be almost unprecedented for Miocic, who already holds the heavyweight championship twice and has defended the title the most. catapulted him into the ranks of Randy Couture (“The Natural” reigned three times as a heavyweight and twice as a light heavyweight). Just ask Dana White about Jones. he is a goat And picograms aside, he’s definitely the frontrunner for such an honor, with only Georges St-Pierre actually running next to him.
During the main event at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Jones appeared to be about to throw a left hand early, prompting chants of “Stipe” from the crowd. That is despite the fact that Jones is from New York State. Jones took a kick up the middle, and Miocic hit a double and no triple to the right side. But once they were together, Jones easily tripped Miocic and landed a solid elbow while on top. Jones was in half guard and Miocic was trading wrists. Jones hits another elbow, and another elbow. Jones stood up and exchanged blows again, hitting Miocic with an elbow to the side of the head. The former champion somehow survived, spinning around to avoid at least one blow. However, Jones continued to attack Jones solidly, although Stipe was able to regain his guard.
In the final moments, as Miocic looked to scramble, Jones got into side control and landed several more elbows before the horn, ultimately opening a cut on Miocic’s cheek.
Miocic started the second round by going around the outside, but seemed a little hesitant. Once they were together, he threw an uppercut, but Jones backed away. Jones returned to one of his better weapons from his early days, the body kick. Meanwhile, Miocic was throwing a right hand that missed the mark, but another body kick that Miocic clearly responded to. As the halfway mark of the second round passed, Jones mixed in some low kicks, clinched and fired knees to the body. A one-two from Miocic brought right-back Jones up. “Bones” mixed up the level of his kicks and encouraged Miocic to move forward with combos. A spinning back kick hits Jones to the body.
Incredibly, after two rounds, Stipe Miocic was suffering from a bruised abdomen from a tee kick from Jones. In the third, Miocic continued to attack, forcing Jones back, but still grazing him with a right hand. Once they were together, Miocic followed up with a right hand, forcing Jones to retreat again. Jones wisely goes back to kicking and 90 seconds later the champion stuns Miocic with a right hand! Miocic shook it off, but the round got off to a good start for the Ohio native, but he turned it around.
It was completely reversed at the last moment. As powerful a round as Miocic had at that point, a spinning back kick to the ribs connected with Jon Jones. And at that moment, Miocic took the wind out of his sails and fell to the ground. Jones followed up with ground and pound, and the match was over!
Jones now defended his heavyweight title. Jones, who called Miocic “The Terminator,” spoke with Joe Rogan after the game. “I wanted to take him out in the first round, but he hung in there,” Jones said.
Now the question is, what’s next for Jon Jones, Alex Pereira, Tom Aspinall and retirement? Instead of answering, Jones praised his beliefs and added: “We’ll have some talks and some negotiations with Dana and Hunter,” he said, hinting that if all goes well, he might just give the fans what they want to see.
Official result: Jon Jones def. Stipe Miocic TKO (spinning back kick and punch), round 3, 4:29
