Despite oddsmakers favoring his victory, Jon Jones remains focused on his fight against Stipe Miocic, praising Miocic’s capability and stating that their mutual respect warrants the matchup even as he considers eventual retirement.
Jon Jones, a highly reputed figure in the realm of fighting, is taking his upcoming fight against Stipe Miocic with utmost seriousness. Slated to take place in November, Jones will be defending his UFC heavyweight title against Miocic during the main event of UFC 295. Despite Miocic being 41 years old and having gone through a 32-month hiatus from fighting, many oddsmakers are skeptical of his chances. Jones, however, begs to differ and expresses his continuous fixation on the fight and the danger that Miocic brings to the table.
Jones shared his thoughts on the OverDogs podcast, stating “I feel like when you get to a place when you don’t feel anything is probably when it’s time to hang it up and try something different. At this point, I still get really nervous, man. I have nightmares about my opponents. About every hour, Stipe Miocic will cross my mind. He will cross my mind. I could be having a drink, you name it, he crosses my mind. I could be at my kid’s volleyball game and I thinking about Stipe. There’s a lot of mental that goes into it that I don’t think people realize. But the goal is to just conquer that.”
Renowned for being one of the most successful heavyweights in UFC’s history, Miocic has remained inactive since his defeat to Francis Ngannou at UFC 260. Even so, amidst an array of thriving contenders in the heavyweight division, Jones affirms that a spar with Miocic is the most logical scenario, given their career success so far and the widespread belief that Miocic might retire post this bout. Jones further praised Miocic’s courage and determination, while also expressing mutual respect towards each other.
The question of what lies in store for Jones post the fight against Miocic has been causing quite a buzz. He admitted that retirement might be on the cards as facing younger fighters like Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall at this point in his career wasn’t very appealing. Also, should Jones decide to call it quits post UFC 295, he expressed his confidence in the heavyweight division’s future, particularly mentioning a promising prospect named Tom Aspinall. The much-anticipated UFC 295 event is scheduled for Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.