This past Saturday night in the main event of UFC 309, the heavyweight title was on the line. In a battle of The GOATs, Jon Jones (28-1, 1 NC) returned to defend his heavyweight title against arguably the greatest heavyweight in the history of the promotion, Stipe Miocic (20-5).
A fight that was supposed to take place a year ago finally took place. Miocic entered looking to be in fantastic shape, but it was going to be interesting to see how he’d look after nearly four years away. Meanwhile Jones was returning for the first time since the worst injury of his career after tearing his pec a year ago which postponed the original fight.
From the opening bell, Jon Jones was in control. Jones did a fantastic job at keeping distance and fighting from kicking range. Miocic tried to close the distance several times but really struggled with Jones’ range management. Jones used a beautiful trip to get Miocic down in the first and nearly finished the fight with brutal elbows.
The second round was more competitive but I still had Jones winning the round. In the third round, Jones rocked Miocic on the feet and stalked him throughout the round. Near the end, he landed a perfect spinning back kick that crumbled Miocic and Jones celebrated as he retained the UFC heavyweight title.
What’s next for Jon Jones after UFC 309?
Jon Jones finds himself in a very advantageous position right now. It’s clear what he wants to do next, but that doesn’t jive with what the UFC wants. Dana White made it clear all week and during the post-fight press conference that the promotion wants Jon Jones to face interim champion Tom Aspinall. That’s the fight that everyone seems to want right now.
That said, Jones was largely dismissive of Aspinall all week and he was once again during the post-fight press conference. Jones made his intentions clear and that’s that he wants to face the current light heavyweight champion and former middleweight champion Alex Pereira. He pointed to the fact that Pereira is a bigger name for his legacy and on that note, I tend to agree.
However, that’s not the fight the world wants. Jones said that he’s going to need “F**k You Money” to take the fight against Aspinall. Jones acknowledged the risks in fighting a young dangerous contender like Aspinall and he wants to be compensated so he’s good whether he wins or loses.
Jones is playing this perfectly and he holds all the cards right now. My gut tells me that the UFC finds a way to get this done and Jon Jones fights Tom Aspinall in the first quarter of 2025 for the undisputed heavyweight title.