Stipe Miocic eyeing fight with Jon Jones, wants trilogy fight against Francis Ngannou
Former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic is ready to return and he’s got his sights set on two of the biggest names in the heavyweight division.
On Monday, Miocic was a guest on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting, and spoke about his time off since losing his heavyweight title back in March of this year. Back at UFC 260 in March, Stipe Miocic dropped his title to the current heavyweight title Francis Ngannou, who evened the series between them at one fight each in their two meetings. While Ngannou is set to defend his title for the first time at UFC 270 in January against Ciryl Gane, Miocic would like to get his chance at a trilogy fight with the champion, but he does have another name in mind.
Jon Jones, the former UFC light-heavyweight champion and considered one of the greatest fighters of all-time, has yet to make his debut in the heavyweight division, but if he’s ready, Stipe Miocic is ready to face him. Since announcing his move to the heavyweight division, Jones has called for a title fight immediately, but Miocic told MMA Fighting that he believes Jones needs to earn the title shot first.
"I’m down [to fight Jon Jones] … Obviously, I really want that trilogy fight [with Francis Ngannou].”@stipemiocic tells @arielhelwani what he wants for his return 🗣 #TheMMAHour
▶️ https://t.co/ZV6RsxibeA pic.twitter.com/WkE9ClpbbY
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) November 22, 2021
“I’m down, yeah. I don’t think he wanted it, I don’t know the whole story but, I’m down. Then he wants a title shot, I know he’s done well, and probably one of the greatest of all-time, but you’ve still got to wait your order. That would be like me going to light heavyweight and saying I want a shot and skip over him.”
Making it known that he still wants the trilogy fight against Ngannou, Stipe Miocic also opened up about his frustration through this year, saying he wasn’t even asked to compete for the interim heavyweight title fight, which Gane won when he defeated Derrick Lewis at UFC 265 this past summer.
“I would have loved to have been asked, I feel like I undestand what the UFC is doing, it’s a business, but at the same time I think I deserved a trilogy fight. I wasn’t even asked for the interim fight. Who knows if I would have taken it but just it would have been nice to be asked.”
While understanding the business ways of the UFC, Stipe Miocic has made his fair claims known and it’ll be interesting to see what the UFC decides to do moving forward for one of the greatest, if not the greatest, UFC heavyweight champion of all-time.
