Jon Jones Dismisses Notion That Stipe Miocic is Huge Underdog at UFC 295

Jon Jones believes the masses are underestimating Stipe Miocic heading into their heavyweight title bout at UFC 295.

Miocic has not fought since March 2021, when he relinquished the heavyweight crown to Francis Ngannou in a second-round knockout loss at UFC 260. That layoff, along with Miocic’s age — he recently turned 41 — make him the underdog against Jones, who claimed the vacant strap with a quick submission of Ciryl Gane at UFC 285.

“Stipe has balls. He has courage,” Jones said on the OverDogs podcast podcast. “He’s not the youngest fighter, but that is a man. That is a man. I’m not the youngest either. In sports’ years, I’m over the hill, that’s for sure. Especially in combat sports. Stipe, he’s an honorable dude, and I know that he’s a man at the end of the day, and I know that he wants this fight. Everyone else thinks that his back’s against the wall and this is a David and Goliath situation for him. I disagree.

“I think Stipe is a very capable athlete and I think I owe it to Stipe to give him that chance to fight the best fighter ever. And I think Stipe owes it to me to give me a chance to fight the greatest heavyweight ever. I think we owe it to each other. I feel like we both would feel like we have unfinished business if we walked away not competing against each other. I understand where Stipe is at, just being looked past by a lot of people, and I respect him even more for training his ass off. I know that in his camp, he expects to win, so I respect him.”

Though nothing is set in stone, Jones has indicated that he could retire from the sport after facing Miocic, who has the most heavyweight title defenses in UFC history. That would disappoint more than a few people, as many would like to see “Bones” face the likes of Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich. Jones admits that while he is impresssed by the likes of Aspinall and Pavlovich, they don’t currently have the name value he is seeking at this point in his career.

“As far as these younger fighters, I look at guys like Aspinall and I look at guys like Sergei, dude, they’re amazing,” Jones said. “Don’t get me wrong, these guys are amazing. They’re starching people in the first round. But as I get older, I have to look at it as a business and not just speak out of pride, I have to speak out of my legacy and as a business. If the hardcore fans know who these guys are, that’s great, but at the end of the day, I need to fight people that the mainstream public is going to be excited about, because there’s always going to be this new challenge that’s younger than you and everyone is going to want to see if you can do it one more time. It is what it is.”