Jones thinks Miocic is playing possum in new training footage that shows the aging heavyweight looking slow and out of shape.
Jon Jones isn’t buying what Stipe Miocic is selling as legit training footage on Instagram.
Miocic has caught a lot of strays in a fan backlash against Jon Jones, who refuses to unify the UFC heavyweight title against interim champ Tom Aspinall. Instead, Jones insists on fighting Miocic in November, barring more injuries or scandals.
But Stipe Miocic is old! He’s slow! After three years without a fight, he’s barely relevant any more! Or so fans say as they push “Bones” to fight Aspinall instead. And in a new video uploaded to his Instagram, Miocic looks every bit as bad as social media haters have been saying.
Watch the former two time heavyweight champion hit the mitts and tell us he looks like the toughest opponent Jones could face!
Jones has watched the video, and he doesn’t see a broken 41-year-old opponent. Instead, he believes the clip is a ruse designed to lull him into complacency.
“I’m not a historian of war or anything, but I have learned a thing or two in my day,” Jones wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “A big part of combat strategy is timing, and deception. To make a long story short, if your opponent appears weak, prepare even harder. Complacency is the greatest enemy to a fighter like myself.”
Complacency is what Jon Jones was fighting towards the end of his light heavyweight reign. He got sick of fighting further down the 205 pound rankings as no great challenge appeared on the horizon. His move up to heavyweight was partially to cement his legacy as GOAT and partially to re-invigorate himself against worthy opponents.
As the heavyweight champion with the most title defenses, Stipe Miocic represents that. Alex Pereira as well, somehow. Tom Aspinall? Sadly, not so much in Jones’ opinion.