Jon Jones dropped whatever respect he was showing towards Stipe Miocic during an icy faceoff following the UFC 309 pre-fight press conference on Thursday.
As the fighters came together on the stage, Miocic had his hand outstretched but Jones ignored him before they came nose-to-nose with UFC CEO Dana White keeping the peace between them. Jones stared down Miocic and he could be heard saying “don’t mention my kids again.”
Miocic’s response was inaudible, but he didn’t seem all that bothered by the incident as they broke apart and stood forward for a few more seconds before leaving the stage.
The dramatic shift between the main event fighters happened after Jones took offense to a couple of things that he claims Miocic said about him in the days leading up to the fight. After previously taking aim at Miocic for calling him “bitch” during UFC Countdown, Jones then revealed another comment that he believes was a direct shot at him and his family.
“Everyone likes first responders and I actually respect men and women in the armed forces and law enforcement and things like that so I made it a point to try and be very respectful to him,” Jones said. “There’s been two scenarios now.
“First scenario he said ‘my kids will never look at me like I’m an assh*le.’ That was a direct attack to me and my family and my relationship with my kids. The second attack was him calling me a bitch. So the respect is a little bit out the window and we’ll see that on Saturday.”
When asked if his approach to the fight has changed after what Miocic said, Jones said emphatically “it’s very personal to me, yes.”
In response, Miocic more or less shrugged his shoulders at Jones getting so upset by what he said, especially considering he doesn’t even remember saying it.
“I don’t even remember saying that ‘my kids will never look at me like I’m an assh*le.’ That was no direct thing to him,” Miocic said.
“When I said bring it on, bitch, he was pretty much calling me out, telling me he was going to beat my ass in front of a whole arena of people. Sorry for defending myself, I apologize.”
Jones and Miocic will face off one final time on Friday at the ceremonial weigh-ins and then meet in the octagon in the UFC 309 main event where they look to settle their beef with the heavyweight title going up for grabs.
