UFC president, Dana White has confirmed plans for the organization to book an undisputed heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones, and former titleholder, Stipe Miocic for an earmarked pay-per-view card at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Jones, the newly-crowned undisputed heavyweight champion, had clinched the vacant title back in March of this year, landing a first round guillotine choke victory over former interim champion, Ciryl Gane in a dominant triumph.
As for Miocic, the Ohio native has been sidelined since March 2021, suffering a devastating second round KO loss against former champion, Francis Ngannou in the pair’s championship rematch.
Expected to matchup with Miocic at UFC 290 during International Fight Week in July, reports confirmed earlier this week how Jones and the former would see their anticipated clash delayed, potentially until the fall.
Last night Endicott native, Jones, hinted at both a rescheduled clash with Miocic for the promotion’s annual pay-per-view outing at Madison Square Garden – as well as his impending retirement from the sport.
Dana White confirms plan for Jon Jones x Stipe Miocic at MSG
And providing an update on the status of the expected fight, UFC leader, White confirmed the promotion’s plan to book a title fight between Jones and Miocic for a MSG card before the close of this year.
“As far as I know, everything is good and hopefully we have a fight with him (Jon Jones) and Stipe (Miocic) very soon,” Dana White told assembled media following UFC Fight Night Kansas City. “That’s where we’d like to do it [Madison Square Garden].”
Recently, White had explained Jones had gone radio silent and had “disappeared” since winning vacant heavyweight gold against Gane – before suggesting media had blown his comments out of proportion.
“That was totally blown out of proportion,” White explained. “This is what you guys do. I say something, you blow it way out of proportion. I said all the build up and leadup to that fight [with Gane], all this Jon Jones (coverage), then poof – he’s just gone. Then I don’t know what Stipe said, then it turns into f*cking drama. There’s no drame here.”
“So, I guess Jon’s back, huh?” White said. “He doesn’t disappear anymore – it’s so f*cking easy to create dream in this sport. It’s f*cking insane.”