Jon Jones marked his return from injury with a third-round stoppage win over two-time former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, retiring the 42-year-old future Hall of Famer following a dominant display but one raising questions about his suitability to face interim titleholder Tom Aspinall in 2025. Elsewhere, there were contrasting main card victories for Charles Oliveira and Bo Nickal…
Jones jolt sends Miocic into long overdue retirement
- Tight-lipped! Jones on his future: “Maybe I will not retire, have to have some conversations to have with Dana [White] and Hunter [Campbell], there’s some negotiating to do… maybe we’ll give you what we wanna see. We have options, gonna see what they want, you’ll hear about it soon.”
- A fatigued farewell from an impending Hall of Famer: “I sucked ass, knew he was one of the best of all-time, we worked on [defending] the spinning kick, tried blocking but he caught me in the ribs. Expected everything but didn’t do what I wanted to, I’m done and hanging them up,” Miocic said
JON Jones made his long-awaited maiden UFC heavyweight title defence one to remember, starting purposefully and showcasing a series of tools en route to a third-round stoppage win over a faded version of two-time former champion Stipe Miocic, who expectedly announced his retirement minutes after a fifth career defeat.
There was hand-fighting aplenty in the early going, Jones building up steam with a few effective inside leg kicks doing damage while Miocic tried countering that by blitzing forward, narrowly missing on these attacking flurries.
A seamless leg trip saw Jones get their contest down to the canvas, where big elbows soon rained down on Miocic in an uncompromising position not too dissimilar to Ciryl Gane last March. Deja vu didn’t seem out of the realms of possibility.
Just getting pummelled without much urgency to evade or return to the stand-up, the pressure could’ve forced another first-round finish. Instead Stipe survived the round but only just, cut across the face and looking rather jaded already.
Jones was kicking well, countering even sharper and Miocic increasingly biting on feints to give him even more confidence he could pick whatever shot he wanted to hurt the 41-year-old whenever.
“Once you go [forward to attack], fill in the gaps afterwards,” was the encouraging cry from Stipe’s side but this felt like wishful thinking: one-paced and appearing hesitant to engage, this standing target wasn’t just an easy target letting Jones off the hook… the champion was dictating with ease.
The jab’s effectiveness drew praise from Jones’ former rival and two-division champion Daniel Cormier on commentary, while shoulder strikes came too with Stipe up against the fence before the challenger was chinchecked with a right.
He retreated after more blitzing attacks proved unsuccessful and there was a sense of inevitability about the finish when it came: Jones connecting on a spinning backheel kick to the left side of Miocic’s ribcage before follow-up shots briefly arrived against a crumbled opponent. Veteran referee Herb Dean waved it off, a matchup that should’ve happened three years ago and but one Jones was always favoured to win.
Somehow yet again, one-time former lightweight championshp challenger Michael Chandler’s stock rose in defeat after he survived a Charles Oliveira submission storm (five takedowns, two attempts) in their rematch before threatening a hail mary finish in the final frame of their title eliminator.
Three-and-a-half years after their original matchup, it was the same result with a different outcome as Oliveira got his hand raised (49-46 x 2, 49-45). However with clear separation and contrasting experiences since then, this five-round encounter marked a long-awaited Octagon return for Chandler who waited too long for a proposed Conor McGregor showdown failing to materialise several times.
Chandler landed more total strikes (150 of 181) and was slightly more accurate with his significant strike percentage (74%, 84-of-113) compared with Oliveira, though the former champion racked up nearly three full rounds of control time and threatened to finish this on the ground before Chandler’s inspired final round showing – connecting on a fight-high 40 of 47 strikes to audible acclaim inside New York.
Since beating Justin Gaethje in May 2022, the popular Oliveira has alternated wins and losses in his last four – though an Islam Makhachev rematch remains the goal, having been flawlessly picked apart by the champion in Abu Dhabi two years ago.
Chandler has lost four of his last five, including twice by Oliveira, yet that hasn’t managed to dim the 38-year-old’s shine as a must-see attraction tending to lose from favourable positions more often than not, as a matter of scrambled execution.
Unbeaten middleweight prospect Bo Nickal (7-0, six finishes) sounded like he was trying to convince himself after being showered with boos and discontenting fan reactions following an uninspiring UD3 win over longtime light-heavyweight contender Paul Craig, who has moved down a division but been met with mixed success.
“I dominated for 15 minutes, they [the fans] wanna see blood and expect a knockout or choke inside a minute, I cut him and am happy with it. The greatest fighters of all-time are winning decisions, Craig has 26 pro fights… I got six and whooped him for 15 minutes, I’m fired up,” Nickal insisted afterwards.
This spectacle wasn’t quite that, the younger man playing possum plenty and Craig cutting an increasingly frustrated figure the longer their competitive exchanges went against a decorated wrestler unwilling to engage as many expected he might.
Rest of the card’s results
Main card
Women’s flyweight: Viviane Araujo [9] bt. Karine Silva [11] via UD3 (29-28 x 3)
Catchweight (166.2lbs): Mauricio Ruffy bt. James Llontop via UD3 (29-28 x 3)
Prelims
Bantamweight: Marcus McGhee bt. Jonathan Martinez [13] via UD3 (29-28 x 3)
Lightweight: Jim Miller bt. Damon Jackson via R1 submission (guillotine choke, 2:44)
Light: David Onama bt. Roberto Romero via UD3 (30-27 x 3)
Heavyweight: Marcin Tybura [9] bt. Jhonata Diniz via R2 TKO (doctor stoppage, 5:00)
Early prelims
Welterweight: Ramiz Brahimaj bt. Mickey Gall via R1 KO (2:55)
Welter: Oban Elliott bt. Bassil Hafez via R3 KO (0:40)
Women’s flyweight: Eduarda Moura bt. Veronica Hardy via UD3 (30-27, 29-28 x 2)
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes via UFC broadcast
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