Aspinall Forged A Shadow Over UFC 309 Combat Week
The build-up to UFC 309 appeared to be dominated by a fighter who wasn’t even competing in Madison Sq. Backyard on Saturday evening. Within the weeks main as much as the occasion the vast majority of the discourse surrounding the heavyweight title combat on the prime of the cardboard targeted not on how the bout between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic may play out, however relatively on the talk over whether or not interim champion Tom Aspinall ought to have been the one difficult for the belt.
As soon as combat week rolled round, Jon Jones appeared to drag the pin out of that grenade by labelling Aspinall “an a**hole” whereas talking to the media and all hell broke unfastened from that time on. Miocic was barely talked about in the course of the the rest of the build-up (a truth the unassuming former champion would certainly have been delighted about) and “Bones” continued to seize headlines as he shouted from the rooftops about his plans to face light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira subsequent as a substitute of Aspinall.
Dana White, talking on the pre-fight press convention, left little doubt as to the place his thoughts was at on the subject. When requested if the winner of the primary occasion ought to face Aspinall subsequent, the UFC president responded adamantly: “The winner ought to completely combat Tom!”
Questions Left Unanswered
On Saturday evening each Jones and Miocic had been handed the chance to silence the doubters. Two of the best champions in UFC historical past locked contained in the Octagon collectively. Jones with the prospect to remind the watching world of his greatness, whereas Miocic will certainly have needed to show that he might nonetheless carry out on the highest degree.
There are some features of Jones’s efficiency to be impressed by. He took Miocic unexpectedly, preventing predominantly as a southpaw for all the combat. This opened up the stabbing back-leg kick to the physique which he utilized repeatedly and it had it’s desired impact of draining the Cleveland native’s fuel tank.
Jones additionally seemed in much better bodily form than we had seen him throughout his solely different look within the heavyweight division when he beat Cyril Gane to win the vacant title again in early 2023, having weighed in 10.4lbs lighter this time round.
For a lot of of those that criticized this match-up over the previous 12 months nonetheless, the non-performance of Stipe Miocic seems to have added gas to these flames. With the overriding feeling among the many combat’s critics coming into UFC 309 being that 42-year-old Miocic was just too far faraway from his prime to trigger Jones any issues, nothing we noticed at MSG on Saturday evening may have helped to alter these opinions.
Miocic hadn’t set foot contained in the Octagon since his defeat by the hands of Francis Ngannou in early 2021, and hadn’t tasted victory in competitors since beating Daniel Cormier in the summertime of 2020. When he didn’t land a lot in the way in which of serious strikes on Jones over the course of virtually three full rounds on Saturday, those that opposed the combat from the start made their feeling clear, with Aspinall chief amongst them.
“The combat, in all honesty, went precisely the way in which I assumed it was going to go” Aspinall instructed TNT Sports activities afterwards. “That would have gone on for 5 rounds, might have gone on for one or two rounds, are you aware what I imply? Jon Jones had the higher hand, he was extra athletic, he was displaying him extra issues, he was giving him completely different seems than Stipe (gave) him.
“Stipe primarily was working at him with fundamental boxing strategies and in all honesty was too sluggish and previous to land the pictures. And that’s not me saying something unhealthy about Stipe, that’s the actuality of it”.
The place Do We Go From Right here?
We’re proper again the place we started it could appear, with UFC followers nonetheless calling for a similar match-up they needed to see after Tom Aspinall decimated Sergei Spivac a 12 months in the past beneath the MSG lights to win the interim title. The key distinction now’s that any potential unification bout would be the greatest potential combat the promotion might make following the occasions of UFC 309 combat week.
Jon Jones appeased the New York crowd throughout his post-fight interview within the Octagon by saying, “perhaps we’ll offer you guys what you need to see”. He went on to double again on these phrases when talking to the media later that evening, however studying between the strains it sounds just like the champ could possibly be swayed into dealing with Aspinall if the UFC are prepared to loosen their purse strings slightly extra subsequent time round.
The scenario actually echoes that of the Jones-Francis Ngannou one just some quick years in the past, however with “Bones” tied right down to a long-term contract with the UFC we’re unlikely to see him observe his former rival’s instance and check free company. If Dana and co are prepared to moist the champion’s beak slightly extra then we could see him face Aspinall throughout Worldwide Combat Week 2025.
Stipe Miocic confirmed to Joe Rogan within the Octagon instantly after the combat that he can be formally retiring. He did it in typical Stipe trend too…if Rogan hadn’t requested him, we in all probability wouldn’t have discovered in any respect.
Probably the most achieved heavyweight champion in UFC historical past deserved a greater send-off given his achievements within the sport. In a world the place Carla Esparza will get a video montage and a standing ovation from a packed area upon retirement, and with the vast majority of the MMA world transfixed on the Jones-Aspinall sopa opera that’s been taking part in out earlier than our eyes because the heavyweight champ landed in New York per week in the past, seeing Miocic slope off into obscurity virtually unnoticed serves as a poignant reminder of how shortly the information cycle strikes on in right now’s world.
