Former heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic has revealed that the UFC was originally targeting him vs Jon Jones for the summer before plans fell through.
As speculation continues on when Jon Jones will make his UFC return, former heavyweight champion and expected opponent of ‘Bones’, Stipe Miocic, has offered his view on the current situation at the top of the heavyweight tree.
Stipe Miocic breaks silence on UFC heavyweight title speculation
Appearing on the latest episode of the Jaxxon Podcast, former UFC heavyweight king Stipe Miocic was directly asked whether or not he will be Jon Jones’ opponent when he eventually makes his return to the octagon.
Never one to mince his words, Miocic bluntly stated: “You’re damn right [I’ll be Jon Jones’ return fight], that’s all I want. I’m gonna wait [for Jones], I don’t care – I want that fight [next].”
The 20-4 veteran then revealed that the UFC was originally targeting a matchup between the former light heavyweight champion and the GOAT of the heavyweight division in the summer:
“They were talking about July but that’s passed on, so I’m thinking more probably November again in New York.”
The UFC have made New York’s Madison Square Garden a staple of their November schedule in recent years and whilst not officially confirmed for 2024, the promotion is expected to return to the Mecca for another PPV later this year.
Back to Miocic, who was questioned on whether a super-fight with Jon Jones would be his last in the UFC octagon, given that the former champ is already 41 years old and hasn’t fought since 2021 against Francis Ngannou.
“We’ll see, I mean I think I’m done after every fight since my first fight, I want to do this and I’m here again… I’ve been there done that you know what I mean, [and] there’s just one guy [left] on the radar.”
When asked what the UFC should do with interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, Miocic noted that whilst the Englishman remains a bright spot for the sport, he’s just not interested in facing him at this stage in his career:
“I don’t know [what he should do] – I mean Tom’s a good champion, he’s a great champion [who’s] young and hungry, I mean we’ll get to that road when we have to, [but] I want Jon Jones… I don’t care about the title I just want to fight Jon Jones, that’s just it.”
Aspinall notably accused Jones of ‘playing games’ when it comes to the UFC heavyweight title.
Stipe and Jackson talk having a ‘spy in the camp’ during training
After Miocic admitted that he didn’t believe that Jones had faked an injury in order to postpone his return, fellow UFC legend Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson claimed that Jones already likely has someone in Miocic’s training room feeding him information.
“I bet Jon Jones has somebody in your camp, I guarantee he’s watching you – he watched me in my camp, he had them spies in my camp.”
Jackson explained that when he was training at Colorado’s Muscle Farm for his own fight with Jones, “you didn’t know everybody there and [there] was some people that I guess were cool with Jon.
“The only way I found out was I faked an injury… A lot of the stuff I was working on, it got back and I never videotaped anything – that was an important fight for me.”
Miocic noted how “That’s really s**** dude,” before adding “I guess if you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying but that’s not how I roll.”
The Ohio native also noted that he doesn’t believe Jones could get anyone inside thanks to his teammates: “One thing about my coaches is that we have a big a** picture that says, ‘Do not use your phone’ like I’ll break your phone’.”
“He’s literally chased people down – my coach has chased people down to be like ‘Give me your phone – delete, delete, and don’t come back’.”