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Coach Mike Winkeljohn believes Jon Jones would outclass Stipe Miocic.
There’s no denying Stipe Miocic is a tremendous champion, but Jon Jones is in a league of his own.
That’s according to Jones’ longtime striking coach, Mike Winkeljohn, who told Submission Radio that ‘Bones’ has Miocic beaten in virtually every aspect of MMA, which doesn’t bode well for the latter when Jones eventually moves up to heavyweight.
“Oh, I’m definitely looking at Stipe,” Winkeljohn said when asked about Jones’ heavyweight debut (h/t Abhinav Kini of The Body Lock). “In my mind, that’s a great fight for Jon to take. That motivates Jon.
“I think Stipe is incredible. I really like the guy, I have nothing but great things to say about him as a person, over and above, just a great fighter. But Jon’s got his sights set on [being] the best and might as well do it.”
“It’s a tough one. Stipe is a great striker, so strong everywhere and he’s real smart,” Winkeljohn added. “I saw the way he was controlling some of the heavyweights on the ground. He’s smart about what he does.
“But I think Jon beats him in every one of those aspects. When Jon puts his mind to it, Jon beats everybody at wrestling, he beats everybody at stand-up, he beats everybody everywhere and always ends up having a bloody show when things go right.”
Jones recently vacated his light heavyweight title and is expected to move up to heavyweight next year, where he will face either Miocic or Francis Ngannou. The former light heavyweight king was recently knocked off the top spot by Khabib Nurmagomedov but is still considered by many to be the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time.