Every November, the UFC makes it’s way back to New York City to host it’s annual show at Madison Square Garden. Usually, the promotion tries to stack the deck and the card is one of the more anticipated cards of the year. This year is no exception as the most prestigious title in the sport will be on the line in the main event.
At tonight’s historic Noche UFC event, it was announced that the heavyweight champ Jon Jones (27-1, 1 NC) will defend his heavyweight title against arguably the greatest heavyweight in the promotion’s history in former champion Stipe Miocic (20-3).
Originally this fight was supposed to headline last year’s MSG card in November. However, just before the fight, Jones suffered a torn pec and the fight was called off. Tom Aspinall became the interim heavyweight champion at UFC 295, but the promotion has maintained that this historic matchup would still go on for the undisputed heavyweight title.
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Jon Jones finally made his heavyweight debut back in March 2023 at UFC 285 when he took on Ciryl Gane for the vacant heavyweight title. The move to heavyweight was over three years in the making as Jones hadn’t fought since early 2020. There were questions about how he’d look.
However, he answered those emphatically when he ran through Gane and submitted him in the first round. From there, he turned his attention to Stipe Miocic in his post-fight interview. Miocic of course was game for the fight and now the promotion has made it happen.
We haven’t seen Stipe Miocic since March 2021 when he lost to Francis Ngannou. Miocic has made it seem like this will be his final fight and Jones has hinted at that as well. Both men are looking to potentially go out as UFC heavyweight champ.