Jon Jones opened a can of whoop-ass on Stipe Miocic last night (Sat., Nov. 16, 2024) in UFC 309’s pay-per-view (PPV) main event (watch highlights). He beat the former champion from pillar-to-post, winning almost every second of the fight en route to a third-round knockout win.
It was a masterclass.
“Bones” entered this match up as a colossal favorite, which means it can be hard to impress. Most were writing off Miocic as washed ahead of time, and everybody was talking about Tom Aspinall rather than the actual headlining fight. Despite taking place in his home state of New York, fight week didn’t feel like a very pro-Jones atmosphere. It really felt like a lose-lose situation. Jones could either beat Miocic (but nobody cared because he’s old) or cough up his title in an upset.
Neither proved to be the case.
Jones spanked Miocic so thoroughly that it’s hard to offer up much complaint against him. His dominance was such that it’s easy to forget just how long Miocic has been away. Jones defended his title so cleanly that even the Aspinall cries have died out just a bit, which felt impossible a mere 48 hours ago.
This performance felt like a return to form for the pound-for-pound great. There were elements of his peak, namely that first round. Jones scoring the slickest clinch trip of the year and then savaging his opponent with elbows from top control? Somebody please pinch me and confirm it’s not 2011 anymore.
Jones’ kicks were downright lethal too. In his last few fights — spread out across many years now — we’ve seen some tepid Jones kickboxing matches. I don’t recall Anthony Smith or Thiago Santos ever being particularly wounded by his kicks, for example. In this fight, however, it was blatantly apparent that a durable and tough Miocic was absolutely striving to not fold over each time Jones poked his mid-section.
Finally, there’s the simple fact that Jones’ jab has never looked better. The massive difference in speed helped, of course, but Jones was snapping his opponent’s head back and using that tool to line up his cross. A 1-2 nearly knocked Miocic out in the third! For all Jones’ range mastery, straight punches have never been his speciality, but this was a level up in his boxing.
Here’s the thing with Jones criticism: nobody has ever claimed that Jones at his best is anything less than the deadliest fighter we’ve ever seen. Peak Jon Jones — I always look back to his 2011 run, but you could also point to his consecutive rematch victories over Alexander Gustafsson and Daniel Cormier in 2017/2018 — was an undeniable force of nature. The arguments and criticisms against him have been his wonky drug test results, behavior outside of the cage, and the simple fact that Jones has looked much more human for the last five years or so.
This performance felt like a return to form. Jones felt like dominance personified in the cage, and that feeling is hard to shake. It’s much easier to overlook the fact that Miocic shouldn’t have been standing opposite him when the results are so spectacular, and especially since Jones has left the door cracked for a fight unifying the Heavyweight title.
Not even Miocic’s immediate retirement in the aftermath could dim Jones’ brightness. Miocic laying down the gloves should have served as a reminder that we weren’t supposed to be impressed by beating an old man, but it’s hard to walk away from UFC 309 as anything but.
For complete UFC 309 results and play-by-play, click here.
