UFC 309: Jon Jones defends his heavyweight title with TKO of Stipe Miocic
Heavyweight champion Jon Jones exults in his victory at UFC 309 at MSG on Saturday. Credit: Jeffrey Basinger
And still.
Still the heavyweight champion. Still unbeaten by any opponent inside the octagon. Still the best to ever do it.
Jon Jones solidified all of that when he knocked out Stipe Miocic in the third round at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
Jones dominated Miocic the entire fight, ending it with a spinning heel kick that landed on the lower left midsection of Miocic and sent him collapsing to the canvas. Jones swarmed on the fallen former heavyweight champion and landed several strikes before referee Herb Dean stopped the bout at the 4:29 mark.
“He’s really really good. He’s really tough. He’s really durable,” Jones said inside the cage after the fight. “It’s like fighting against the Terminator. But that body shot.”
Jones said the spinning back kick was something he started working on about six months with his Taekwondo coach Paige Bates.
He also said that he did not see it land on Miocic.
“I didn't see it land, but I felt it,” the 37-year-old champion said in his post-fight news conference. "I wouldn't be surprised if he hurt a rib, or if he fractured a rib. I guess we'll find out. I don't know if he went to the hospital or not. But you know, the liver is on the right side of the body and I hit him on the left side of the body. But those organs in there, when you rattle them, the liver is not too far away. So either he felt his liver when I hit, or he felt his rib. But I hit him really clean."
Jones (28-1,1 NC) nearly stopped Miocic (20-5) in the first round. Jones go Miocic down with a leg trip and worked his way to secure top position. From there, Jones was able to land several short elbows and forearms on various occasions, but Miocic withstood it all.
“This guy’s fight IQ is off the charts,” UFC president Dana White said. “Stipe came in here to win, and Jon Jones systematically picked him apart.”
The win was Jones' 20th consecutive victory, 18 of which were title fights. His one loss came via disqualification against Matt Hamill. The one no contest was a knockout of Daniel Cormier in 2017 that was overturned after a positive post-fight test result.
After the fight, Jones thanked President-elect Donald J. Trump for being among the 20,200 fans in attendance at MSG on Saturday. Trump was joined by, among others, Elon Musk, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kid Rock. The event had a live gate of $16.673,954, the second highest in MSG history, trailing the $17.7 million from UFC 205 in 2016.
Miocic, who hadn’t fought in three years, ends his the most decorated heavyweight in UFC history, with six title fight wins and a run of four consecutive title defenses.
“I’m done,” Miocic said after the fight. ”I’m hanging them up. I’m retiring. Thank God.”
Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.
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