With the NFL, college football and NBA and NCAA basketball in full swing this month, it’s easy to overlook the Ultimate Fighting Championship with so many options to choose from.
If you are aiming to break into the UFC fandom, picking Saturday’s pay-per-view as your first taste would be the knockout option.
Late this Saturday, Madison Square Garden will hold one of the biggest Mixed Martial Art events of the year when UFC 309 brings stars on stars with very hyped main and co-main events.
So, grab your popcorn, put in your mouthguard and let’s get ready to rumble.
Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic: Heavyweight Title Bout – Main Event
Jones: Fighting out of Albuquerque, N.M., 6’4”, 240 LB, 27-1 career record. Current undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. 84.5-in. reach. 45-in. leg reach.
Miocic: Fighting out of Independence, Ohio., 6’5”, 240 LB, 20-4 career record. Two-time former heavyweight champion of the world. 80-in. reach. 39-in. leg reach.
Somewhere, Dana White, the UFC CEO, is flossing his big wide grin with dollar bills. That is because his (and many other’s) greatest UFC fighter is making his first appearance in the ring in over a year and a half.
Jon “Bones” Jones, the undisputed, terrifying all-fear inducing is making his return to the spotlight now that his fight against Cleveland-native Stipe Miocic has finally found a home as the main event for UFC 309.
Jones has won every fight in his career dating back to 2010, including a streak of 16 consecutive title defenses (his title match in 2017 against Daniel Cormier was canceled, so Jones kept the belt).
His reach is freakishly long, which allows his strikes to reach his opponent faster than they can. His legs are powerful enough to cave in rib cages and he has a propensity for dirty fighting, but Jones doesn’t mind as long as he escapes the ring with his 17th title belt across two separate divisions.
Opposite him is a polar opposite in Stipe Miocic. Miocic may not strike fear into his opponents’ hearts like Jones, but he is almost, if not just, as impressive as Jones in the annals of UFC history.
The last eight matches of Miocic’s career have been title bouts, and he has claimed six of them. He has toppled legends such as Francis Ngannou, Daniel Cormier and Alistair Overeem, and he loves to give out knockouts – 11 of them across his career to be exact.
Miocic is world renowned for his toughness and iron jaw, and if anyone were to be able to brush off one of Jones’s patented eye pokes, it would be “Stone Cold Stipe.”
Fight Prediction: Jones wins in Decision over Miocic
Although I do believe he’ll be showing some rust, I do have Jon Jones continuing his legend against Stipe Miocic in a fairly close decision that sees Jones take more rounds than Miocic with each round being decided by 3-4 points.
Both fighters are coming off hiatuses of at least 20 months with Miocic’s last fight taking place in 2021. Ultimately, the rust will get the better of the Cleveland native. I do see Miocic putting up a better fight than most people are saying, but I think Jones takes title No. 17 home.
Moving forward, there’s one thing and one thing only on Jon Jones’ mind following his win against Stipe Miocic: Alex Periera. Jones has even said he’s fine with vacating the heavyweight title and moving down to light heavyweight to fight “Poatan.”
If this fight were to happen, it would arguably be the biggest fight in UFC history and would also be one of the biggest moments in combat sport history.
Gage Wellman is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected] or @GageWellmanKSTV on X
