Written by Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Jon Jones is still the heavyweight champion and the greatest of all time.
In his latest performance, Jones dismantled Stipe Miocic over three rounds in the UFC 309 main event before delivering a vicious spinning back kick to the body that surely rattled a few ribs and sent the Ohio native crashing to the canvas. Jones delivered a few more shots as referee Herb Dean rushed in for the stoppage with the end coming at 4:29 in the third round.
The win served as Jones first title defense since capturing the heavyweight title with an equally dominant performance over Ciryl Gane back in 2023.
“He’s really, really good,” Jones said about Miocic after the fight. “He’s really durable. I was hitting him with some pretty decent shots but he kept coming forward. It was like fighting against the Terminator. Very, very discouraging to hit somebody that’s not reacting to it. But that body shot, no matter how tough you are, the liver’s the liver.”
While it took him until the third round to get the finish, Jones nearly ended the fight much earlier after.
A devastating ground technician, Jones scored with an early trip takedown that put Miocic on the canvas as he started to unload with some vicious elbows. There were several moments where Jones was just unloading with shots as Miocic did his best to bob and weave from the bottom to avoid too much damage.
Jones was relentless with his attacks from the top but Miocic moved just enough to avoid a potential finish.
On the restart, Miocic looked like he was moving in quicksand and much more deliberate with his strikes, which allowed Jones to avoid anything heavy coming from the former champion. In return, Jones connected with a couple of stiff body kicks and a slick jab that kept popping Miocic in the face.
With Miocic starting to pursue, Jones went hard to the body with more kicks and then unloaded a pair of straight punches that hand the former heavyweight champion wincing in pain. Jones rushed forward but Miocic countered with enough power to back him off momentarily.
Try as he could, Miocic just couldn’t find an opening for his punches and he was constantly struggling to deal with the speed and accuracy coming back at him from Jones. Because Miocic was still dangerous with his punching power, Jones was playing a methodical game of chess as he picked his spots and waited for the right opening to deliver the finish.
That finally came late in the third round as Jones backed Miocic up against the cage and unleashed the spinning back kick with his heel digging deep to the body. Miocic reacted immediately as he fell to the floor with Jones following him there for a few more shots but the fight was pretty clearly already over.
A dejected Miocic refused medical attention before making it back to his feet where he ultimately announced his decision to retire from the sport.
“It sucked ass, I lost,” Miocic said. “I knew he was going to be tough. He’s one of the best of all time. He caught me in the ribs. I expected everything and I just didn’t do what I was supposed to do.
“Hats off to that man. I’m done. I’m hanging them up. I’m retiring.”
While it certainly wasn’t the ending he wanted, Miocic leaves as a two-time UFC heavyweight champion and a guaranteed Hall of Famer in the near future.
As for Jones, there were rumors swirling for months that Saturday night could also serve as his final performance but it turns out, he sounds ready to come back for at least one more. And perhaps even a showdown with interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall?
“As far as my future in the octagon, I decided that maybe I will not retire,” Jones said. “I have some conversations to have with Dana [White] and Hunter [Campbell] and we have some negotiating to do and everything goes right, maybe we’ll give you guys what you want to see.
“I know that we have options. I’m just going to see what Uncle Dana wants and what Uncle Hunter wants and you guys will hear about it soon.”