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UFC 309: Paul Craig Says Spider-Man’s Support Tops Donald Trump’s at UFC Event

UFC 309: Paul Craig Says Spider-Man’s Support Tops Donald Trump’s at UFC Event Fighting in front of Donald Trump? Naw, that’s not cool. Fighting in front of Spider-Man? Now that’s f*cking cool….

Fighting in front of Donald Trump? Naw, that’s not cool. Fighting in front of Spider-Man? Now that’s f*cking cool.

Determined to climb back into the win column after coming up short in back-to-back bouts against Brendan Allen and Caio Borralho, Scottish standout Paul Craig will face another tough test when he meets three-time NCAA Division I national champion and undefeated mixed martial artist Bo Nickal.

Craig and Nickal will square off as part of a UFC 309 main card headlined by a long-awaited heavyweight title tilt between undisputed champion Jon ‘Bones’ Jones and former two-time titleholder Stipe Miocic.

Recently, Nickal suggested that president-elect Trump would be in attendance this Saturday when the promotion makes its annual pit stop in Madison Square Garden. Trump has been known to attend UFC events when they take place in either New York or New Jersey and has become quite enamored with Nickal in recent years, leading to speculation that Trump may show up in NYC to take in the action and celebrate his improbable re-election.

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Whether Trump shows or not makes no difference to Craig. Afterall, he’s already had the pleasure of putting on a show for everyone’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and that’s far cooler than competing against a 34-time convicted felon.

“He’s not my president — he’s the President of America,” Craig told BBC Sport Scotland. “I was more excited about getting the opportunity to fight in front of Spiderman in London, [actor] Tom Holland.

“It doesn’t matter who’s in that crowd. You’ve just got a job to do. You’ve got to handle your business and that’s what I’m looking to do. But I guess when you think about it, one of the most powerful people in the world sitting in the crowd, watching you at ringside. It’s kind of cool and it’s one of these stories you can tell your kids or grandkids when you’re older.”

Paul Craig ready to handle business against trump’s boy bo nickal in mSG

After losing three of his last four fights, Paul Craig realizes that getting a middleweight title opportunity, or even a spot in the division’s top 10 is a pretty tall ask.

Instead, he’s focused on stunning the former Nittany Lion and earning a spot on the UFC’s London card in March 2025.

“The championship is slightly further out of reach and the top ten, it’s just out of reach,” he said. “So then it becomes less about them and more about right, I want these ‘Oh my God’ moments. I want these fights that get me excited. I want to walk out in places like Madison Square Garden.

“Right now it’s all about getting Bo Nickal, handling my business, and then looking forward to potentially fighting in London.

UFC 309: Jon Jones Hints at Vacating Heavyweight Title, Leaving Tom Aspinall Just One Step from the Top

Jon Jones has no qualms about vacating the undisputed heavyweight title — especially if it gets him closer to…

Jon Jones has no qualms about vacating the undisputed heavyweight title — especially if it gets him closer to a BMF fight with reigning 205-pound king Alex Pereira.

UFC 309 will see ‘Bones’ put his heavyweight title on the line for the first time since scoring a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it submission victory over Ciryl Gane 20 months ago. This time around, Jones will attempt to both keep his belt and add to his already undeniable legacy when he meets the only two-time titleholder in heavyweight history, Stipe Miocic.

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As it stands, Jones’ victory over Miocic almost feels like a foregone conclusion with sportsbooks like DraftKings having ‘Bones’ favored by a greater-than 6-to-1 margin. And it seems like everyone — ‘Bones’ included — is far more interested in what comes after his fight with Miocic instead of what will happen during it.

Recently, Jones frustrated some fight fans by suggested that win or lose, he never intends on doing the right thing and unifying his title with that of interim heavyweight titleholder Tom Aspinall.

Jon Jones thinks a fight with ‘Poatan’ makes much more sense

Jones seemingly doubled down on that statement by suggesting that he’d gladly vacate the heavyweight title for a fight with ‘Poatan’ before ever considering a scrap with Aspinall.

“It’d be cool to fight [Pereira] over the heavyweight championship, but I would also willingly give up the heavyweight championship,” Jones told SportsNet on Monday. “I walked away from the light heavyweight championship, and I’d love to walk away from this one as well on top, on [my] own terms, good head on your shoulders, making lots of money. I love the position that I’m in right now.

“Fighting Pereira for the ‘BMF’ [baddest motherf*cker] belt, that would be cool. We both have two belts in two weight classes, and the night we fought, we’d both be fighting for our third belt – which would be the ‘BMF.’ How cool would that be?” (h/t The Independant).

There’s no doubt that Jones vs. Pereira is an exciting idea and perhaps the biggest possible fight the UFC could make with Conor McGregor’s return to the Octagon looking less likely with each passing day. But is it the right thing to do?

More importantly, where does that leave Tom Aspinall?

‘Nobody Likes Tom’ – UFC Fighter Tells Aspinall to ‘Stop Whining’ About Jon Jones

Damon Jackson is tired of hearing Tom Aspinall whine about Jon Jones supposedly ducking him. On Saturday night, Jones…

Damon Jackson is tired of hearing Tom Aspinall whine about Jon Jones supposedly ducking him.

On Saturday night, Jones will return to the Octagon for the first time since his quickfire submission victory over Ciryl Gane to claim the undisputed heavyweight title. To the delight of some and the chagrin of many, ‘Bones’ will finally face two-time titleholder Stipe Miocic at UFC 309.

Meanwhile, interim champion Tom Aspinall will continue to sit on the sidelines and wait to see if his next fight will be against Jones, Miocic, or possibly neither.

Aspinall has been quite vocal about his displeasure with the situation at heavyweight. Specifically, Jones avoiding a title unification clash with him in order to pursue a legacy fight against Miocic that amounts to very little in the grand scheme of things.

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Damon Jackson insists aspinall’s constant complains make him look ‘petty’

And while a majority of fighters and fans have seemingly sided with Aspinall, Damon Jackson is definitely not one of them.

“Nobody likes Tom, I hate to say it,” Jackson told Parry Punch. “I think he’s a great fighter, for sure. He’s annoying as f*ck. He gets so whiny about the whole Jon Jones thing. You’re not going to say anything that’s going to draw him out to fight you at all. If he wants to fight you, he’ll fight. If he doesn’t, then just shut up about it because it’s not going to happen … and he just looks petty. I get what he’s saying, for sure — he should be called the champion.

“But, the fact that he’s whining and complaining about Jon fighting Stipe — that fight was already booked before he was even interim champion. And the reason it didn’t happen was because Jon got hurt. It happens all the time. It’s not like he’s inactive. Everyone gets pissed when Dana calls him the greatest of all time. Like, he is” (h/t MMA Mania).

Jackson will be back in action this weekend and in desperate need of a big win after coming up short in three of his last four outings. The Leech’ will face Octagon icon Jim Miller during the UFC 309 prelims as the promotion makes its annual pit stop inside the legendary Madison Square Garden in NYC.

Miller will be making his 45th walk to the Octagon and — like Jackson — is looking to climb back into the win column after suffering a unanimous decision loss against ‘King’ Bobby Green at UFC 300.

UFC 309: Volkanovski Jokes That He Nearly Offered To Fight Amid Injury Rumor

About a week ago, some fake rumors started to circulate online that one of the big match-ups at UFC 309 could be at risk. Any claims that Charles Oliveira had suffered an injury ahead of his co-main event clash with Michael Chandler on November 16 were cleared up before fight week had begun for the […]

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Chandler was even asked about this during his recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show where he stated that he wasn’t sure where the rumor started. For some fans, they may have assumed this to be true after seeing fighters like Renato Moicano posting on social media to say that they would be willing to step in on short notice.

Chandler or Charles out? Call me I fight in 10 days! Time is money #ufc

— Renato Moicano UFC (@moicanoufc) November 6, 2024

“Do Bronx” has had two notable fights either cancelled or postponed in recent times with the most significant one being his rematch with Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 last year. The former lightweight champion suffered a cut above his eye less than two weeks out from the fight and the match-up wasn’t booked again once Oliveira was back in fighting shape.

Instead, the featherweight champion at the time, Alexander Volkanovski, stepped in to his place for a rematch with Makhachev that didn’t go his way. It’s become a consistent joke on social media ever since last October that whenever a fighter pulls out, Volkanovski is waiting by the phone with his gloves and luggage already in hand.

In his recent breakdown of the fights on his YouTube channel, “The Great” joked that after he heard the rumors that Oliveira was injured, he would offer to replace him once again.

“I did see things popping up where Charles was out maybe they needed a replacement, it must have just been okay that’s why you can never believe what you see on the internet. I almost put my hand up, almost, but I didn’t but yeah. Probably because we knew that wasn’t the case. If the UFC called, you never know right.”

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Stipe Miocic Insists He Would Have Returned With Or Without Jon Jones

For many fight fans, a defining trait of the main event of UFC 309 this Saturday night is activity. Whilst the defending heavyweight champion Jon Jones has only has one fight in well over four years, Stipe Miocic hasn’t fought since March of 2021. Not to mention the fact that in that fight, following his […]

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Not to mention the fact that in that fight, following his testing trilogy with Daniel Cormier that took three years to complete, Miocic was knocked out in devastating fashion by Francis Ngannou in their rematch at UFC 260.

The former two-time heavyweight champion is ready to return after his match-up with Jones was pushed back a year from UFC 295 due to Jones’ injury which only added to the talk about whether this will be a major factor at Madison Square Garden. For Miocic, he’s confident that the time away hasn’t had a negative impact on his ability.

He believes that he’s been able to let his body heal during this period and though he wasn’t dead-set on stepping back inside the Octagon, it was always an option for him after the Ngannou defeat. Miocic has said before that he pushed for a trilogy with his last opponent but when that didn’t happen, things went quiet on his end for quite some time.

In a recent interview with Brett Okamoto for ESPN MMA, the returning challenger said that making a return after his most recent fight was always an option on the table even if it wasn’t an absolute must for him.

“No I was always gonna fight man, I love fighting. I love what I do but I mean, I’m also okay with if it didn’t happen, I was okay with walking away.”

Later on in the interview, Miocic was asked whether he would have made his way back to the Octagon eventually if it wasn’t for this fight. If there was ever a reason to come back after a tough loss followed by a long break, a legacy defining fight against Jones where Miocic could recapture the heavyweight belt and become the first man to beat “Bones” at the same time would surely be the one.

He cut straight to the point, simply stating that he would have come back regardless of whether it was for this fight with Jones or something else.

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Replacement Fighter Confirmed For UFC 309 Fight After Late Withdrawal

It was reported last week that UFC 309 this Saturday would be down a fight unless a replacement opponent could be found on short notice. David Onama was set to face Lucas Almeida on the prelims at Madison Square Garden. This would have been Almeida’s fifth appearance in the Octagon following a win last time […]

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This would have been Almeida’s fifth appearance in the Octagon following a win last time out in June over Timmy Cuamba via a unanimous decision. Unfortunately, Almeida withdrew from the fight and the UFC started looking for someone else to face Onama.

Fans were getting concerned after not hearing anything for close to a week until it was announced, just days out from fight night, that Mexico’s Roberto Romero will be stepping in to make his UFC debut. Romero’s management Iridium Sports Agency made the new official via their social media channels.

At 24-years old, Romero has built a pro record of 8-3-1. His last eight fights all came under the Combate Global banner where he won six fights in a row, with one draw in between, before suffering a decision loss to Ireland’s Patrick Lehane last December. He went on to rebound with a first round submission win over Takahiro Ashida this past July.

He will now face Uganda’s Onama on November 16 as the 30-year old looks to build on his back-to-back wins inside the Octagon, including a bonus-winning knockout over Gabriel Santos last year. This now puts the card at a total of 13 fights for the promotion’s return to the world’s most famous arena following a few changes in opponents and a cancelled fight.

Continue Reading Replacement Fighter Confirmed For UFC 309 Fight After Late Withdrawal at MMA News.