
Jon Jones did his job on Saturday night by thoroughly dominating Stipe Miocic and putting him away with a vicious spinning back kick to the body in the third round in the UFC 309 main event. But did Jones deserve that much credit considering Miocic was coming off nearly four years of inactivity, and at 42 years old, he may not have been the same fighter who twice conquered the heavyweight division in the UFC.
That’s the argument UFC legend Matt Brown made looking back at the fight because as much as Jones put on a vintage performance, he wasn’t exactly facing the Miocic who took out opponents like Francis Ngannou and Daniel Cormier in the past.
“As bad as he looked athletically — he looked his age, also — I say he looked past his age, to be honest,” Brown said about Miocic on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Straight legs, no hate on Stipe. It just looked like he doesn’t have it at this point, and why should he? He came into challenge himself at the highest level with the greatest ever and didn’t pass the challenge.
“This might be a little controversial, but to me, it almost takes away a little bit from Jon Jones. I mean he beat him almost flawlessly. I gave Stipe round two, but it wasn’t like some demolition or anything. It was almost flawless for Jon Jones, but I wasn’t amazed by Jon Jones beating that version of Stipe.”
Matt Brown wasn’t ‘amazed’ by Jon Jones at UFC 309, Stipe Miocic ‘looked like he didn’t really want to be there’ - MMA Fighting