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New York — Jon Jones looked as good as ever Saturday, knocking out Stipe Miocic with a spinning back kick in the third round of their heavyweight title battle at UFC 309 in Madison Square Garden.
And now that the situation is resolved, the fight world will anxiously await the heavyweight title unification clash.
Jones (28-1) overpowered Miocic (20-5) and won by TKO at 4:29 of the round. The bout was supposed to take place in November 2023, but Jones had to bow out due to a torn pectoral muscle. Prior to Saturday, most of the prefight discussion was around whether Jones would face interim champion Tom Aspinall if he won.
After defeating Miocic, Jones made it clear he is open to the challenge.
“I’ve decided maybe I will not retire,” Jones said, adding that he will have conversations with UFC CEO Dana White and chief business officer Hunter Campbell. “We’ll negotiate. If everything goes right, maybe we’ll give you guys what you want to see.”
Miocic, 42, who elected to wait an entire year for Jones’ return, announced his retirement in the Octagon after the loss. The former two-time champion hadn’t fought since 2021 before facing Jones on Saturday.
Even with Miocic’s layoff, Saturday was more about how fantastic Jones looked than how rusty Miocic was. Jones, widely regarded as the greatest boxer of all time, demonstrated all of his abilities in his first knockout victory since December 2018. He knocked Miocic down in the first round and teased him with vicious elbows from the top position. He injured him with front kicks to the body in the second and third rounds and nearly floored him with a punch.
The final shot was a spinning back kick to Miocic’s midsection that sent him to his knees. It was a brutal climax to a one-sided fight.
According to UFC Stats, Miocic landed 42 strikes — none of which was particularly memorable — to 104 by Jones. Jones’ defense was superb all night, and he made Miocic pay with counterpunches and knees in the clinch.
“He’s really, really good,” Jones said of Miocic. “He’s tough and durable. I nailed him with few nice blows, and he continued moving forward. Everyone understands that Stipe isn’t the biggest heavyweight. He comes skinny and in terrific form.
I watched him have wars with Daniel Cormier and a lot of guys, and they were rock ’em, sock ’em. He doesn’t react much to getting hit in the face, so our plan was to get him in the body.”
Aspinall (15-3) was in New York for UFC 309 and sat cageside during the main event. In recent years, the 31-year-old English champion has wreaked havoc on the heavyweight category, finishing in the first round in seven of his nine UFC fights. He won the UFC’s interim championship in November 2023, and made a rare defense against Curtis Blaydes in July.
Jones had expressed no desire in taking on Aspinall prior to Saturday, even going so far as to refer to him as a “nobody.” Instead of competing against Aspinall in the Octagon, Jones had stated that he would prefer to give up the heavyweight belt. It now seems that a unification fight is very much on the table, regardless of whether that was a negotiating ploy or Jones just changed his mind.
Jones’ UFC record now stands at 16 title fight victories after the victory.
