The UFC’s annual Madison Square Garden show is up to four fights.
A UFC-ranked light heavyweight battle is headed to Madison Square Garden.
[autotag]Nikita Krylov[/autotag] and [autotag]Azamat Murzakanov[/autotag] will collide Nov. 16 at UFC 309 in New York.
Two people with knowledge of the situation recently informed MMA Junkie of the booking but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. The news was first reported by Russian news outlet Match TV.
Krylov (30-9 MMA, 11-7 UFC) rides into the matchup on a three-fight winning streak that includes victories over Alexander Gustafsson, Volkan Oezdemir and Ryan Spann.
Murzakanov (14-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) has slowly risen up the UFC ranks. He has yet to lose through four UFC appearances, with wins over Tafon Nchukwi, Devin Clark, Dustin Jacoby, and most recently Alonzo Menifield.
With the addition, the UFC 309 lineup includes:
Eryk Anders vs. Chris Weidman
Viviane Araujo vs. Karine Silva
Veronica Hardy vs. Eduarda Moura
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.
Dana White and reporters debated the pound-for-pound No. 1 and Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic for over 12 minutes.
LAS VEGAS – UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] has vehemently defended two topics perhaps more than any others over the past year. The first, is who the pound-for-pound best fighter is right now. The second is that his answer to that question, [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag], who he thinks should rightfully fight [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] next.
Following Dana White’s Contender Series 69 on Tuesday at the UFC Apex, White engaged with reporters in a lengthy, back-and-forth discussion.
The debate was respectful but passionate, as White verbally traded with media members, mainly veteran reporters Kevin Iole and John Morgan.
PASADENA, CA – JANUARY 09: TUF Coach, Jon Jones (L) and Dana White, UFC President/UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, of the television show “The Ultimate Fighter” speak during the FX Networks portion of the 2013 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour at the Langham Hotel and Spa on January 9, 2013 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Jones as pound-for-pound No. 1
The 12-plus-minute exchange began as White was about to wrap his post-event news conference. He was jokingly asked about Jones’ status as the “pound-for-pound GOAT.”
The argument is one that White has repeated his stance on increasingly in recent weeks. The frequency and enthusiasm has amused online commenters and meme-creators.
Iole asked, “Does he have pictures of you?” to which laughs came.
“Are you guys that f*cking stupid?” White laughed back. “You can’t be that f*cking stupid to think that Jon Jones is not the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world and the GOAT… but maybe you are?”
White stood up to leave but then sat back down to engage. Eleven more minutes of discussion took place thereafter.
“Question me,” White said. “Who’s better than Jon Jones? Who’s pound-for pound better than Jon Jones?”
Morgan jumped in and answered, “At what point does inactivity come into play, right? We all agree there is nobody better than Jon Jones. He is the greatest of all time. There’s no question about it. But at some point, when you’re looking at rankings, they do have to represent what’s happening in the organization at that moment, right at that time, and in the past three years, he’s had one fight.”
White’s answer to that question revolved around the inactivity not being a choice, but rather an injury, which Jones (27-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) suffered weeks before an initial booking with Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) scheduled for November 2023. Jones was out of action for three years when he returned to win heavyweight gold vs. Ciryl Gane in March 2023, and he hasn’t fought since. Meanwhile, [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) has become interim heavyweight champion, even scoring a rare defense of that interim belt against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in July.
“You talk about inactivity and that he’s only fought one time. Jon Jones was supposed to fight,” White said. “If Jon Jones was sitting on the couch saying, ‘I don’t know when I’m going to fight again,’ then he’s definitely not in the pound-for-pound discussion right now. He was scheduled to fight and he got injured. He’s an active fighter.”
White then brought up Islam Makhachev, the fighter many media members and fans think deserves the pound-for-pound designation. Makhachev (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) has defended the UFC lightweight title three times, though two of those were against then-featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, and one was a highly-debated decision. He is currently ranked No. 1 in the UFC’s official pound-for-pound rankings.
“Islam, many people believe, lost to the guy (Volkanovski) who’s a weight class below him,” White said. “Is that how pound-for-pound works?”
Jones vs. Stipe
White and Iole then went back-and-forth about the definition of “active” before the conversation pivoted to the booking between Jones and Miocic.
“Everyone in this room thinks Aspinall is more highly-rated than Stipe, at this point,” Iole said. “Stipe’s reputation is fantastic but he has not won a fight since he beat (Daniel Cormier) – in four years. That also plays into it as partially a factor when you have a guy like Aspinall knocking out Serghei Pavlovich in less than a minute, Curtis Blaydes in less than a minute, etc., etc.”
White said he didn’t disagree, but offered up a different stance and laid out an argument that’s crux was not wanting to disrespect Miocic, who missed out on the Jones fight in late 2023 not because of his own doing.
“Here’s the flip side to that,” White said. “What do I do? The guy who’s looked at as the greatest heavyweight in the UFC, right? This fight’s set up. Jon Jones gets hurt. It’s not his fault. He has to wait and go back into training camp again. He was training. So do I just yank it away from Stipe and say, ‘Hey, go f*ck yourself and sit on the sidelines for two more years’? If I did that you guys would be like, ‘Oh, you f*cking disrespected the greatest heavyweight ever,’ so would the f*cking fans. So I should just sh*t on Stipe because Jon got hurt, and not make the fight that he was already supposed to fight?'”
Iole rebutted that Miocic should’ve fought Aspinall in Jones’ absence, rather than sit and wait for the champion.
“This is the fight (Jones and Miocic) both want,” White said. “What do you do? You don’t show the guys their respect. I guarantee you this, if Stipe wins, Stipe is going to retire. This will be Stipe’s last fight. Are you the media telling me I should just tell Stipe to f*ck off and (say), ‘Good luck to you Stipe. Go ride off into the sunset and fight some fires and that’s a wrap for you, buddy,” because Jon got hurt? Or do I show this guy the respect that I should show him and give them both the fight that they want? That’s the position I’m in.”
Unsurprisingly, no agreement was reached. White, with a smile, declared Jones’ status as the pound-for-pound best fighter once last time before he departed the table and was replaced by beaming UFC contract-earner Malcolm Wellmaker.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 04: Jon Jones looks on during the UFC heavyweight championship fight against Ciryl Gane of France during the UFC 285 event at T-Mobile Arena on March 04, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
What’s next
Jones and Miocic are “targeted” to fight at UFC 309, an event Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York, White confirmed Tuesday. White said the lack of formal announcement by the promotion is due to its calendar not being filled out until that point.
Aspinall, the promotion’s interim titleholder, defended that championship at UFC 304 in July when he knocked out Curtis Blaydes. It’s unclear what his next competitive move is, though he’s upped his callouts of Jones in recent weeks, even creating skit videos in an attempt to angle for the fight.
A women’s flyweight contender fight is the newest addition to UFC 309.
A women’s flyweight fight with top-10 implications is on the docket for Madison Square Garden.
[autotag]Karine Silva[/autotag] and [autotag]Viviane Araujo[/autotag] will collide Nov. 16 at UFC 309 in New York.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently informed MMA Junkie of the matchup but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
Silva (18-4 MMA, 4-0 UFC) has shot up the UFC women’s flyweight ladder since her promotional debut in 2022. Thus far, she holds wins over Poliana Botelho, Ketlen Souza, Maryna Moroz, and most recently Ariane Lipski.
Araujo (12-6 MMA, 6-5 UFC) has positioned herself as a ranked fighter in the promotion. She looks to bounce back from a unanimous decision loss to Natalia Silva in February. The defeat was his third in four fights.
With the addition, the UFC 309 lineup now includes:
Eryk Anders vs. Chris Weidman
Viviane Araujo vs. Karine Silva
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.
Now 8-0 after his UFC on ESPN 61 win, Jhonata Diniz is determined to show he’s “ready to fight against the big names” at heavyweight.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Jhonata Diniz[/autotag] wants matchmakers to find his equal in the heavyweight division after UFC on ESPN 61.
Diniz (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) added to his unblemished record Saturday when he earned a unanimous decision victory over Karl Williams (10-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) at the UFC Apex. It was the first time in his career that he’d gone to the scorecards, and with that is valuable experience for the Brazilian.
“I’m so happy because I proved to everybody that I’m ready to fight against grappler, against striker,” Diniz told MMA Junkie and other reporters post-fight at UFC on ESPN 61. “I don’t care against who I fight. If you find someone tough enough to fight me for three rounds, I will hurt them for three rounds. It doesn’t matter.”
Diniz, 33, has proven to have heavy hands inside the cage, and now he knows he can throw them for 15 minutes. In his mind that warrants a step up in competition, and he thinks he’s ready for the some serious names in his weight class.
With two wins already under his belt in 2024, Diniz is looking for the hat trick. He would like to return at UFC 309, which is targeted to take place Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. It’s expected that heavyweight champ Jon Jones will defend against Stipe Miocic in the headliner of that card, and Diniz sees it as a prime opportunity to fight a contender-tier name and show where he stands.
“I think November will be a very good time for me to come back and fight,” Diniz said. “I know they have a big event with Jones and Miocic, and why not? I am ready to fight in New York. Against who? I don’t know. Who is the most dangerous guy in my division? Just bring this name for me. I want to prove to everybody that I’m ready to fight against the big names.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 61.
President Joe Biden caught a stray from Tom Aspinall as he continued to lobby for himself to replace Stipe Miocic against Jon Jones.
If President Joe Biden could effectively be removed from this year’s election, so too can [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] from his upcoming UFC title fight.
At least that’s how [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] sees it.
The quick and dominant victory from Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) was a statement that he deserves to unify the title with Jones rather than former champ Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC), who turns 42 on Aug. 19, receiving a title shot off a loss to Francis Ngannou in March 2021.
“Get Stipe out of there,” Aspinall said in an interview with TNT Sports. “Let’s be honest. Like, the guy is (almost 42) years old, he’s had a four-year layoff, and his last fight was a knockout loss. Granted, he’s an absolute legend in this sport. He’s the best heavyweight ever statistically. But the guy needs to be pulled out of the race.”
Aspinall would like to see a similar situation play out with Miocic.
“The guy needs to be Joe Biden’d, mate,” Aspinall said. “He’s too old. No one’s that interested anymore. I respect Stipe a lot. Pull him out, stick me in. It’s right, though, isn’t it? It is right. Get Joe Biden out of there, stick me in.”
"The guy needs to be Joe Biden'd, he's too old" 🤣
Tom Aspinall says Stipe Miocic should pull out of his fight with Jon Jones 🫣
As much sense as Aspinall’s suggestion might make, it seems unlikely to happen given White’s steadfast opinion that a fight between Jones and Miocic has to happen because of legacy. A fight with Miocic is also what Jones has wanted all along.
Jones and Miocic were slated to headline UFC 295 last November, but Jones tore his pectoral muscle with under a month until fight night. That prompted the UFC to create an interim title on short notice, which Aspinall won at UFC 295 by knocking out Sergei Pavlovich.
While Aspinall appears unlikely to outright get a shot at Jones, White said he could serve as the UFC 309 backup and step in should anything happen to either Jones or Miocic.
