The top of the UFC heavyweight division remains an unending enigma. Francis Ngannou, Jon Jones, Stipe Miocic; the UFC has a trio of notable stars that could make for a variety of high-profile PPV headlining fights. When any of them will actually step in the cage again is anyone’s guess.
Fans had looked to be getting some answer to that question earlier in October, when rumors surfaced that the UFC was planning a bout between Jones and Miocic to headline UFC 282 later this year. Unfortunately that fight seems less and less likely by the day.
In fact, in a press release on October 25th the UFC announced that a light heavyweight title rematch between Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira has now been declared the main event for December 10th.
UFC just announced that Prochazka vs. Teixeira will headline UFC 282 in December. That seems to mean Jones vs. Miocic is off the table for the end of year show pic.twitter.com/aWkoBBj5jD
— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) October 25, 2022
The timing couldn’t be rougher for Jones, who took to Twitter earlier that same day to announce that he was still preparing to fight Miocic on the last UFC PPV of the year. From the sound of things, that puts the holdup for the fight on the Miocic side of things.
I’m preparing to fight Stipe December 10 in Las Vegas. Not really sure what’s going on between Stipe and the UFC but I’m ready to compete! I’m going to control what I can and stay in shape. https://t.co/3Ouu9Xk8Ns
— BONY (@JonnyBones) October 25, 2022
When rumors of Miocic vs. Jones first started circulating, MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani noted that if the UFC couldn’t get the two men in the cage for December the promotion might move on to a potential bout between Jones and Ngannou for sometime in the spring of 2023.
Of course, any potential movement on that fight could only come after the UFC comes to a contract agreement with their heavyweight champion first. Until that happens it seems the heavyweight title picture will remain as muddled as ever.
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