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There is once again a light at the end of the tunnel for those still waiting to see Jon Jones fight Stipe Miocic.
The UFC heavyweight champion will face the former title-holder at UFC 309 in Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, Dana White told Complex. The UFC president declined to commit to anything happening after the fight but did say he expected Jones to want to fight top challenger Tom Aspinall if he wins, rather than retire.
From Complex:
“Jon Jones is going fight at Madison Square Garden in November. And then if he wins, or Stipe wins, then we see what happens next, you know. Who will retire, whatever. Do I think Stipe will retire? I do. I do think he will. But you never know. Stipe might want to take the challenge, but I know for a fact if Jon Jones wins that fight and all this talk that’s out there, there’s no way in hell he’s not fighting Aspinall.”
To put it simply, the Jones-Miocic fight has been a long time coming and then some, to the point that it has eroded the prestige of the UFC heavyweight belt for some.
Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic gets its second date
Jones defeated Ciryl Gane to win the vacant belt in March 2023. He immediately called out Miocic, who lost the belt to Francis Ngannou two years prior, and the fight was officially announced for Nov. 11 at UFC 295 the following July. That fight went up in the air in October, when Jones was revealed to have torn his pectoral muscle, requiring surgery. It took nearly a year for the fight to get its next date.
Jones and Miocic have each fought once in the past four years, and are now respectively 37 and 42 years old. Gane is the only person among the UFC’s top five heavyweight contenders that either have defeated.
While all this was happening, Tom Aspinall rocketed up those rankings and now holds the interim belt. Usually, an interim belt is a ticket for the next shot at the champion, but White had Aspinall defend it against Curtis Blaydes instead. Aspinall is now ahead of Jones on several heavyweight rankings, and has been poking Jones repeatedly to give him a shot rather than the aging Miocic.
White has stuck firm to the Jones-Miocic plan despite criticism, bent on pitting what many believe to be the best MMA fighter of all time against the best UFC heavyweight of all time. Barring injury, of course.
Speaking of waiting a very long time for a fight, UFC 309 will also see Michael Chandler face Charles Oliveira. It has been nearly two years since Chandler last fought at UFC 281 in Nov. 2022, with the fighter waiting all that time for a bout against Conor McGregor that similarly went up in smoke.