UFC 309 media day went down today from New York City just days before the Madison Square Garden event. The PPV will be headlined by a heavyweight title fight between the champion Jon Jones (27-1, 1 NC) and former champion Stipe Miocic (20-4).
The fight is being billed as a battle between the goats. While Jones is considered by many including myself to be the greatest of all time, Stipe Miocic is widely considered to be the greatest heavyweight in the history of the UFC. This fight was supposed to take place a year ago, but Jones tore his pec shortly before the fight.
When the fight fell through last year, Tom Aspinall fought Sergei Pavlovich for the interim heavyweight title. Aspinall knocked out Pavlovich to win the interim title and then he defended that interim title against Curtis Blaydes over the summer. Aspinall is in New York to serve as the backup fighter for this weekend’s main event.
Typically when there’s an undisputed title fight like there is at UFC 309, the winner is poised to be lined up against the interim champion after that to unify the championship. However, there’s no guarantee that Aspinall is going to get that opportunity.
Stipe Miocic’s future is up in the air and he’s hinted that Saturday night might be his final fight. On the other hand, Jon Jones has openly said he wants to fight again after Saturday night, but he has no interest in fighting Tom Aspinall.
UFC heavyweight champion is not a fan of the interim champion
Jon Jones was very open and honest at media day on the reasoning as to why he has no interest in fighting Aspinall should he prevail and retain his heavyweight title on Saturday night. The UFC’s heavyweight champion said, “Tom has been such an asshole that I don’t want to do business with him.”
While Jones has no interest in fighting Aspinall, he does have serious interest in fighting another UFC champion. Jones reiterated if he wins on Saturday night, he has no issue in vacating the heavyweight title in order to fight current light heavyweight and former middleweight champion Alex Pereira.
Alex Pereira might be the biggest star in the promotion right now. Poatan has been on an incredible run since joining the promotion just three years ago. Pereira won his first three fights including a brutal knockout over Sean Strickland and then he dethroned Israel Adesanya to become the UFC middleweight champion.
Of course, Pereira lost the title to Adesanya in a rematch which triggered his move to light heavyweight. Since moving up to light heavyweight last July, Pereira has gone 5-0 with four knockouts. He became the light heavyweight champion and he’s already defended the title three times in the last year and a half.
Jones views Pereira the same way he views Stipe Miocic. He views Pereira as a legacy fight and he believes that if he beats Alex Pereira, it’ll further his remarkable legacy. Jones acknowledged that Aspinall is a very dangerous fighter, but he pointed to the fact that a win over Aspinall would do nothing to further his legacy.
I understand both sides of the argument here. I do understand the fans that are frustrated and want to see the UFC heavyweight champion take on the interim champion should he win on Saturday night. That said, I also understand where Jon Jones is coming from. The reality is, Jon Jones has earned the right to do whatever he wants.
If he wants to fight Alex Pereira (which would be a much bigger PPV draw), then that’s the fight he should get. Jones doesn’t owe anything to any of us at this stage of his career.