Tag: Jon Jones

Chael Sonnen, Daniel Cormier agree how Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou would unfold

After UFC 309, Chael Sonnen and Daniel Cormier doubt Francis Ngannou’s chances against Jon Jones.

After UFC 309, [autotag]Chael Sonnen[/autotag] and [autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] doubt [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag]’s chances against [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag].

Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) retained his UFC heavyweight title when he finished Stipe Miocic in the third round with a spinning back kick to the body in Saturday’s main event at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Watching Jones dominate Miocic (20-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) from start to finish makes Sonnen think former UFC heavyweight champ and current PFL heavyweight superfights champ Ngannou would’ve struggled against Jones.

“Do you know what Jon would have done to Francis Ngannou in hindsight?” Sonnen said on “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Daniel Cormier. “Now that we look back, Jon would have picked that big man a part. I mean, I’m just sharing with you, like, that’s a big man’s nightmare. Jon’s not a heavyweight; Jon is fighting at heavyweight. There’s a massive difference.”

Jones and Ngannou were on a collision course before Ngannou opted to sign with PFL. Cormier, who fought Jones twice, was especially impressed with his former rival’s wrestling.

“Yes, dude, Francis would have struggled with Jones,” Cormier said. “Dude, he threw Stipe down and just beat the crap out of him. He literally grabbed him by the neck, stepped behind his leg and threw him down. He choke slammed him and just beat him on the ground.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.

Jon Jones reacts to No. 2 pound-for-pound ranking after UFC 309

UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones shares his thoughts on his No. 2 pound-for-pound ranking after his win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 309.

Unlike UFC CEO Dana White, [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] had a very different take on his pound-for-pound placement in the UFC official rankings.

Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC), considered by most as the greatest fighter in MMA history, was put as No. 2 on the UFC pound-for-pound rankings following his successful title defense at Saturday’s UFC 309. Jones, who defended his UFC heavyweight title by stopping Stipe Miocic, was happy with his rankings – especially considering he’s the oldest fighter on the list. It’s a stance that differs from White, who believes Jones should be the clear No. 1.

“Being ranked number 2 pound per pound at 37 years old, I’m happy with that,” Jones wrote on X on Tuesday.


Jones is seen by many as undefeated in MMA, given his only loss was a disqualification due to an elbow strike that has now been made legal. After dominating the UFC light heavyweight division for years, Jones took a three-year break from the sport to return as a heavyweight and win the title vacated by Francis Ngannou in early 2023.

UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is the only fighter ranked above Jones at ranked No. 1. The rankings are composed of an independent panel that updates them after every UFC event.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.

Overreaction Time: UFC 309 and Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson deliver the not-so-goods

Check out the latest episode of “Overreaction Time” covering Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic, Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson, and more.

The time for overreacting is here!

Check out the latest episode of “Overreaction Time” at noon ET/9 a.m. PT as host Simon Samano and MMA Junkie reporter Farah Hannoun debate these “overreactions” on the following topics in mixed martial arts:

  • [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] was a meaningless UFC heavyweight title fight.
  • UFC 309 proved Jon Jones would lose to [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag].
  • Things are about to get ugly between Jon Jones and [autotag]Dana White[/autotag].
  • [autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag] should stop acting so desperate to fight [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag].
  • [autotag]Bo Nickal[/autotag]’s UFC 309 performance was a huge disappointment.
  • [autotag]Jake Paul [/autotag]vs. [autotag]Mike Tyson[/autotag]: What the hell was that?
  • The UFC totally redeemed itself with the UFC 310/UFC Tampa shakeup.

Watch the full episode in the video above.

Tom Aspinall highlights one clear disadvantage Jon Jones would have against him

Tom Aspinall explains why Jon Jones’ preparation for a UFC heavyweight title unifier “will keep him up at night for sure.”

[autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] thinks UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] would have a hard time preparing for him.

Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) was in attendance for Jones’ successful title defense against Stipe Miocic in Saturday’s UFC 309 headliner at Madison Square Garden in New York. Jones finished Miocic with a spinning back kick to the body in Round 3.

Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) prides himself on being great at studying tape and breaking down opponents, but based on Aspinall’s fight time in the octagon, the interim champ believes Jones won’t have much to look at – and that’s a clear disadvantage.

“He loves to study opponents like this. He has no chance of doing that with me because my average fight time is the shortest in UFC history at 2:02,” Aspinall said of Jones on “The Ariel Helwani Show” on Monday. “All 10 fights, and that’s something that keeps him up at night. That will keep him up at night for sure.

“I am a massive, massive question mark for him, and I know a lot of his game. He’s got a lot of octagon time over a lot of years, and I’ve got next to nothing, next to no footage of me, nothing of me out there apart from bouncing people’s heads off the canvas. He has no idea what to prepare for, and that is fantastic for me.”

Jones said he wants “f*ck you” money to fight Aspinall, and Aspinall doesn’t blame him. Despite Jones dismissing him on multiple occasions, Aspinall is confident the fight ends up happening.

“I’m a damn dangerous fight for him, the most dangerous of his career at this stage by far, and he knows it,” Aspinall said. “Of course he wants money. I think he secretly wants it because he has a gigantic ego, and he should have because he’s one of the best fighters ever. And he hates the fact that people are saying that I can beat him. He can’t sleep at night.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.

Jon Jones still isn’t No. 1 P4P after UFC 309, and Dana White (again) is mad

The official UFC rankings panelists continue to do themselves no favors whatsoever with Dana White.

The official UFC rankings panelists continue to do themselves no favors whatsoever with [autotag]Dana White[/autotag].

UFC 309 saw the return of heavyweight champion [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag], who successfully returned from a 20-month layoff to defend his title with a third-round TKO of Stipe Miocic, who was coming off an even longer layoff of more than three-and-a-half years. The fight headlined the pay-per-view event at Madison Square Garden in New York.

For months, White has repeatedly fussed about Jones not being No. 1 in the official UFC pound-for-pound rankings, where he sat at No. 3 behind light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira and lightweight champ Islam Makhachev prior to UFC 309. Coming out of the event, Jones has jumped up one spot to leapfrog Pereira for the second spot, but he remains behind top-ranked Makhachev.

Unsurprisingly, White is perturbed by Jones still not claiming the top spot and made that clear Monday night on his Instagram Stories.

“I have to get rid of these CLOWNS!!” White wrote. “(Mark Zuckerberg), let’s get this AI deal done ASAP!!!!!”

White must’ve believed Jones’ easy win over Miocic would convince the UFC rankings panel to place him No. 1, but that’s not the case.

Last month, White said he was open to the UFC rankings being compiled, in part, by AI and consulted Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who’s a big UFC fan.

“I could go on and on and on, but I won’t,” White said. “We literally had meetings this week to work on it. I actually talked to Mark Zuckerberg, too, about AI, so yeah, I’m totally going to fix the rankings. We’re going to make a lot of strong moves here coming into 2025.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.

Debate: Will Jon Jones finally fight Tom Aspinall after UFC 309?

Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall is clearly the fight fans want to see after UFC 309. Will it happen? We discuss on “Spinning Back Clique.”

The [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] saga is finally over, and it left the MMA world with one key question: Will Jones finally fight [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] to unify the UFC heavyweight title?

Jones defended his heavyweight strap this past Saturday by stopping Miocic in the third round of their UFC 309 main event in Madison Square Garden. Jones indicated that he wants to fight Alex Pereira next, or maybe Aspinall if he were paid “f*ck you money.” This may be frustrating to many, as Aspinall won and defended the interim heavyweight title over the past year, making himself the clear No. 1 contender in the division.

So, will Jones get down with Aspinall? And how did Jones look in his return to the octagon?

MMA Junkie’s Brian “Goze” Garcia, Mike Bohn, Danny Segura and host Gorgeous George discuss everything surrounding Jon Jones’ big win over Miocic and what may come next for his career.

Watch their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s complete episode of “Spinning Back Clique” below on YouTube or in podcast form.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.

Daniel Cormier: UFC 309 showed that Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic ‘were not on the same level’

Daniel Cormier thinks Jon Jones showed that he’s levels above Stipe Miocic at UFC 309.

[autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] showed that he’s levels above [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] at UFC 309.

Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) retained his heavyweight title by finishing Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) with a spinning back kick to the body in Saturday’s main event at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Miocic was almost stopped in Round 1 when Jones took him down and landed big ground and pound. Jones systematically broke him down throughout the fight before getting the finish in Round 3.

“From the very start of this fight, it was very apparent that these two were not on the same level,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “From Round 1, Jon Jones had a 10-8 round. He started the fight with a beautiful kick to the middle, jabs at Stipe Miocic, takes him down with what was a sick takedown.”

Cormier thinks the damage Miocic took on the ground early set the tone for the rest of the fight, where he slowed down drastically.

“It looked like Stipe expected something, and he got something completely different,” Cormier said. “It was a wipeout. It really was a wipeout. And while I was surprised, I knew that this fight could go one of two ways: It could be very close, it could be very competitive, or it could be one-sided. Tonight we got option 2, the one-sided fight where Miocic didn’t get much accomplished.”

Cormier did take the time to praise his former rival, crediting him for what he’s achieved throughout his career.

”This dude proves time and time again, man, how good he is, and I truly believe a lot of it is due to the hard work, the fight IQ, and the toughness, the durability that he possesses inside the octagon,” Cormier said. “It does not matter what I feel about Jon Jones in life. I do respect him tremendously, immensely, as a fighter. He does a lot of the right things when he’s inside that octagon, and that has led to him having more success than anyone has had.

“This guy has defended titles, and over the course of three generations of fighters. That was it for that generation. Stipe was it for that generation. … He has defended this belt over three generations. So no matter what you feel about him, it’s very apparent that you have to respect him and the skills that he possesses in the octagon. He has once again defended a belt and stays UFC champion.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.

Spinning Back Clique REPLAY: UFC 309 fallout, Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall, Paul-Tyson, more

On the latest episode of “Spinning Back Clique,” the panel discusses Jon Jones’ win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 309, Jake Paul’s victory over Mike Tyson, and more.

Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts.

This week’s panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Mike Bohn and Danny Segura will join host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate the following topics:

  • [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] has made the heavyweight division quite interesting, to say the least. The living legend returned to the cage Saturday, successfully defending his UFC heavyweight title against [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] in the main event of UFC 309. Now it seems Jones has little to no intention of unifying the belt with interim champion [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag], and is calling for a bout against fellow star and light heavyweight champion [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag]. What happens now? Will Jones give in and fight Aspinall, or will he retire from MMA? We discuss and analyze everything surrounding the UFC 309 main event.
  • Jones wasn’t the only one who made headlines at UFC 309, which also saw [autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag] defeat [autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag] in their highly anticipated rematch; [autotag]Bo Nickal[/autotag] continue his unbeaten run in MMA; [autotag]Mauricio Ruffy[/autotag] follow up on an impressive UFC debut; and much more. We discuss and highlight some of the other key results outside the UFC 309 main event.
  • Netflix debuted its first live sports event with a boxing match between popular influencer [autotag]Jake Paul[/autotag] and 58-year-old former champion [autotag]Mike Tyson[/autotag]. The event left plenty to discuss – some good, some bad. We react to Paul’s win over Tyson, along with Netflix’s jump into live sports.
  • To close out the show, we review some of the smaller news items outside the two big weekend events, including the booking of [autotag]Shavkat Rakmonov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Ian Machado Garry[/autotag], which serves as the new co-main event of UFC 310; the return of [autotag]Colby Covington[/autotag], who fills in for Machado Garry to fight [autotag]Joaquim Buckley[/autotag] in the main event of UFC on ESPN 63 on Dec. 14; and the implementation of the old UFC gloves – sort of.

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Tom Aspinall on Jon Jones’ UFC 309 finish of Stipe Miocic: ‘I definitely see openings’

Tom Aspinall gained confidence after watching Jon Jones retain his heavyweight title at UFC 309.

[autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] gained confidence after watching [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] retain his heavyweight title at UFC 309.

Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) was in attendance for Jones’ spinning back kick finish of Stipe Miocic in Saturday’s main event at Madison Square Garden in New York. He weighed in as a backup for the fight, but his services were not needed.

Aspinall expected Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) to win, but admits not necessarily in that fashion.

“It was, as you American guys say, by design,” Aspinall said during the ESPN MMA post-fight show. “It was exactly what I thought. It was exactly what I thought would happen. In all honesty, I wasn’t sure if Jon could finish him. I thought maybe it’s going to be a five-rounder, at that kind of pace – Jon picking him off, Jon keeping his range, Jon walking him backwards, Jon mixing up the attacks between the head, the body, the legs, the spinning back kicks to the body, the wrestling.

“He does it all incredibly well, and I think to beat Jon Jones, the most important thing you need is good eyes, good reactions, quick reactions and in all honestly, Stipe Miocic just didn’t have that at 42 years old.”

Interim heavyweight champion Aspinall, who hopes to be next in line for a title unification bout, likes how he matches up with Jones.

“I am so happy that I got to see an up-close version of what Jon Jones looks like at 37, 38 years old and on the back end of his career,” Aspinall said. “And I’m very satisfied. The speed, just the speed … I don’t want to say too much (before we might fight).

“Absolutely, (I see takedowns). I see everything. Whether I can do it in there – Jon Jones is one of the best to ever do it, arguably the best, arguably the greatest of all time, as Dana White says, as Jon Jones says himself. But I definitely see openings. Whether I can do it or not, I don’t know. But from the outside looking in, I think I can.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.

Mick Maynard’s Shoes: What’s next for Jon Jones after UFC 309 title defense?

The only fight to make after UFC 309 is Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall, but will the UFC be able to get it done?

[autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] proved to be far too much for Stipe Miocic in the UFC 309 main event, and he left with the heavyweight championship still in his possession after Saturday’s event at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) returned from a 20-month injury layoff to run through former two-time champion Miocic (20-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) en route to a third-round TKO finish by spinning back kick to the body. It was a largely one-sided contest, and one that felt more like a roadblock in the career of “Bones” to get the fights the public is truly demanding.

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The majority of that demand surrounds the desire to see Jones unify the title with interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. In almost any other situation, it would be a layup to make that fight happen. However, Jones’ resistance to the matchup has complicated the situation and left many questions about how things will unfold.

What is most likely to happen? What will happen? Watch the video above for thoughts and analysis on Jones’ future after UFC 309.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.