Jon Jones did his job on Saturday night time by completely dominating Stipe Miocic and placing him away with a vicious spinning again kick to the physique within the third spherical within the UFC 309 major occasion. However did Jones deserve that a lot credit score contemplating Miocic was coming off practically 4 years of inactivity, and at 42 years previous, he might not have been the identical fighter who twice conquered the heavyweight division within the UFC.
That’s the argument UFC legend Matt Brown made wanting again on the combat as a result of as a lot as Jones placed on a classic efficiency, he wasn’t precisely dealing with the Miocic who took out opponents like Francis Ngannou and Daniel Cormier previously.
“As dangerous as he appeared athletically — he appeared his age, additionally — I say he appeared previous his age, to be trustworthy,” Brown mentioned about Miocic on the most recent episode of The Fighter vs. The Author. “Straight legs, no hate on Stipe. It simply appeared like he doesn’t have it at this level, and why ought to he? He got here into problem himself on the highest stage with the best ever and didn’t move the problem.
“This is likely to be a little bit controversial, however to me, it nearly takes away a little bit bit from Jon Jones. I imply he beat him nearly flawlessly. I gave Stipe spherical two, however it wasn’t like some demolition or something. It was nearly flawless for Jon Jones, however I wasn’t amazed by Jon Jones beating that model of Stipe.”
Whereas Miocic discovered a solution to stick round following a lopsided opening spherical the place he ended up on his again with Jones dropping bombs on him from the highest, the Ohio native simply by no means actually put collectively any offense throughout the combat.
By all accounts, Miocic appeared a lot slower than Jones throughout all of the exchanges and his response time simply appeared off in comparison with the heavyweight nice from the previous.
“Stipe, to me, appeared like he didn’t actually need to be there,” Brown mentioned. “He’s there for the problem and perhaps the cash. I don’t know what his motivations have been precisely. Nevertheless it didn’t look to me like he actually needed to be there.”
Now Brown admits that maybe Miocic’s demeanor modified dramatically after he absorbed a ton of punishment from Jones within the first spherical and he simply by no means recovered.
However he additionally acknowledged that Miocic clearly didn’t look himself and he wasted no time after the combat was over to announce his retirement from the game.
“Perhaps that was Jon, too. Perhaps I’m taking an excessive amount of away from Jon,” Brown defined. “Perhaps Stipe was all about it and motivated after which as quickly as Jon threw the primary punch he’s like ‘OK, really perhaps I don’t need to be doing this.’
“Perhaps we must always give Jon extra credit score there, however to me, it simply appeared like Stipe simply didn’t need to be there. He simply wasn’t current within the second. He didn’t have that fireside below his ass. He was identical to ‘if I beat you, I beat you, if I don’t, I don’t.’ That’s the way in which it felt to me simply emotionally.”
There’s no solution to say for sure what led to Miocic’s efficiency on Saturday, however the best reply surrounds his day off between fights and his age.
That’s why Brown is hesitant to heap an excessive amount of reward on Jones for getting the job executed the way in which he did on Saturday.
“By way of combat IQ, it was a fully insanely nice efficiency,” Brown mentioned about Jones. “My knock on it was the athleticism — I don’t know if it’s as a result of Jon is a lot extra athletic than all people, or Stipe’s really declined that far as a result of Jon may try this to lots of people who’re of their prime, too.”
Whatever the end result, Jones efficiently defended his heavyweight title and he continues to reign as arguably the best fighter of all time. Brown says that truth didn’t change simply because he confronted Miocic previous his prime.
“Jon’s cemented his legacy,” Brown mentioned. “He’s the best of all-time. Nobody goes to debate that for a very long time, aside from the [performance-enhancing drug use] accusations. That’s the argument in opposition to Jon. There’s probably not one other argument in opposition to Jon. He’s the best of all-time.
“So long as he stays undefeated, it doesn’t matter who he fights — and he is aware of this — it doesn’t matter who he fights, if he stays undefeated, he’s going to stay the GOAT.”
