Jon Jones challenged Stipe Miocic, who was there, to a fight during International Fight Week in July during his post-fight interview at UFC 285 in Las Vegas.
The most successful heavyweight and light heavyweight champions will square off in the octagon to determine who is the superior fighter at UFC 290, which is anticipated to feature the heavyweight bout as its main event.
In an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Miocic expressed his confidence in his ability to defeat “Bones” and predicted that he will be the one to deliver the fighter his first real defeat.
In UFC 285, Jones made a spectacular comeback to the ring and promptly submitted Ciryl Gane to win the vacant heavyweight title. The record-holder for the most successful consecutive UFC heavyweight championship defenses, Miocic, and UFC President Dana White both declared throughout fight week that Miocic will face the victor of last Saturday’s main event.
Jones joked at his post-fight news conference that Miocic might want to “take time off from being a firefighter right now” to better prepare for their fight. Jones and Miocic are now scheduled to face one other.
On The MMA Hour on Monday, Miocic responded to the jab. Miocic stated, “I think everyone tries to say that and they realize they’re in a world of hurt when it’s not happening the way they want. I don’t know if he knows this, but I’ve been a fireman the whole time I’ve been in my career in the UFC. But whatever, that’s none of my business. I don’t really care.”
Now employed as a firefighter paramedic in his native Ohio, Miocic has worked in this capacity for his entire 12-year UFC career. As seen by his 14-4 UFC record and four successful heavyweight championship defences over the course of two reigns, the position doesn’t appear to have significantly hampered his fighting career.
Even though Miocic anticipates defending his title at UFC 290 on July 8 to close out the organization’s International Fight Week in Las Vegas, he wasn’t certain if it will be against Jones or Gane.
“I thought I was going with Ciryl in beginning of the week, but the more I talked about it with other people, the more I thought about it, I thought it was more even,” Miocic said. “I just said if Ciryl keeps it on the feet, he picks him apart, him all day. It’s still going to be a great fight, but I thought if Jon used his wrestling it’s going to be a long night for Ciryl. I was not ready for that. I thought it was going to be a big war for five rounds, but I was definitely wrong. Good for Jon.”
Miocic declared, “I’m going to win, there’s no question, I know that [he’s never lost,]” Miocic added. “It sucks that he’s going to lose. He’s going [to have] a big ‘one.’ I’m not going to imagine it, it’s going to happen.”
White stated that the July 8 date is still up for discussion but has not been confirmed. Regardless of whether the rematch takes place this summer or later in the year, Miocic is preparing for it. His subsequent match will mark his first since losing the title to Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 in March 2021.
Francis Ngannou defeated Miocic in his most recent match at UFC 260. Yet because he has been a keen observer of the division, he views his forthcoming battle with Jones as a turning point for both fighters.
Miocic won back-to-back fights against Daniel Cormier to complete their trilogy before the defeat to Ngannou. He is frequently cited as the best heavyweight in UFC history.
Miocic is confident he can improve himself before their fight in the Octagon because he believes Jones’ attempts at mental combat will fail.
