You’d be forgiven for humming a few bars from an Aretha Franklin classic during Thursday’s UFC 309 pre-fight press conference.
Jon Jones was rather focused on R-E-S-P-E-C-T, and the lack thereof that he feels he’s received from former UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic in the build-up to their main event showdown this Saturday.
Coming from Jones, who once infamously threatened to kill Daniel Cormier on a hot mic, complaints about respect seem downright trivial. This is the fight game, and Miocic saying, in short, “bring it on, b*tch” is far from the worst trash talk the sport has ever seen. It barely even qualifies as trash talk. Still, it appears to have been enough to get under the current heavyweight champ’s skin.
At the pre-fight presser, Jones allowed that “everyone likes first responders,” a nod to Miocic’s other job as an active duty firefighter. “And I actually respect men and women in the armed forces, law enforcement, things like that. So I made it a point to try to be very respectful to him.”
“There’s been two scenarios now,” Jones continued. “First scenario, he said that ‘my kids will never look at me like I’m an asshole.’ That was a direct attack on me and my family, and my relationship with my kids. Second attack was him calling me a b*tch. So the respect is a little bit out the window, and we’ll see that on Saturday.”
Asked if the fight between them had become personal, Jones confirmed that, for him, it had. “It’s very personal to me, yes.”
Miocic, about as loquacious as the mighty oak at the best of times, pointed out that he’d been responding to Jones’ own threat to “beat my ass in front of the whole arena” when he uttered the b-word. “Sorry for defending myself, I apologize,” Miocic said wryly. He added that he didn’t even remember commenting about his family never seeing him as an asshole. Though with Jones’ history of domestic disputes, there’s little doubt that if Miocic did say it, he’s far from the first to do so.
As for the fight being personal, “I think every fight is personal no matter what. I think you’re fighting another man in the octagon; it’s you against him,” observed Miocic. “It’s always personal.”
Most do not expect Miocic, out of action since a loss to Francis Ngannou in 2021, to be the man to defeat Jones. As for “Bones,” himself coming off an extended layoff, he’s been vocal about his lack of enthusiasm for a Tom Aspinall fight, instead suggesting everyone from Alex Pereira to Derrick Lewis to Jamahal Hill. One fight that has not been discussed much at all is a rematch with Miocic should he pull off an upset on Saturday.
Stipe, for one, is on board with the idea in theory. “I mean yeah but right now I’m worried about Saturday. But once I get it done, we’ll talk,” he said when asked if he’d be willing to run the fight back.”
