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UFC reveals planned date and location for Jones comeback: “That’s what we are targeting”
Jon Jones at UFC 285. Photo via UFC (Twitter)
It looks like Jon Jones will be back in a few months!
At a recent press conference, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed that the fight against former heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic is targeted to headline UFC 309 on November 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
White defended the decision to book the fight instead of letting interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall face reigning champ Jones.
“The guy (Stipe) who’s looked at as the greatest heavyweight in the UFC, right? This fight’s set up. Jon Jones gets hurt. It’s not his fault,” White said.
“He has to wait and go back into training camp again. He was training. So do I just yank it away from Stipe and say, ‘Hey, go f*ck yourself and sit on the sidelines for two more years’? If I did that you guys would be like, ‘Oh, you f*cking disrespected the greatest heavyweight ever,’ so would the f*cking fans. So I should just sh*t on Stipe because Jon got hurt, and not make the fight that he was already supposed to fight?’”
UFC 309 with Jon Jones
The event will mark the promotion’s eighth visit to New York City and first since UFC 295 in November 2023.
In 2020, Jones vacated the light heavyweight title and announced his intention to move up to the heavyweight division. After a prolonged period of preparation and negotiation with the UFC, Jones was slated to make his debut in 2023 to face Ciryl Gane for the heavyweight strap.
The fight against Stipe will mark his first title defense.
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