Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya believes this weekend’s curtain-closer between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic will reach a conclusion well inside the five-round distance.
Jones and Miocic have renewed hostilities a year on from their first failed attempt at sharing the cage. That bout set for Madison Square Garden fell through owing to an injury on the side of the heavyweight kingpin.
And despite that setting the stage for Tom Aspinall to achieve interim champ status, the title won’t be unified next, as “Bones” has instead kept his sights on welcoming Miocic back to the Octagon after a near-four-year layoff.
Given the veteran’s age and lengthy stint on the sidelines, which followed a brutal knockout loss to Francis Ngannou, not many are giving the Ohio native a chance of ripping the gold from Jones’ grasp at UFC 309.
And that includes a man who hasn’t always seen eye-to-eye with the Rochester native…
During a video recently uploaded to his FREESTYLEBENDER YouTube channel, Adesanya provided a brief breakdown of both UFC 309 headliners before making his prediction.
While “The Last Stylebender” praised Miocic’s toughness and past stints with the heavyweight crown in his possession, he went as far as to suggest that a victory for the challenger would mark the “biggest upset” the Octagon has seen.
“Jones lately looks better at heavyweight already. He’s been taking it seriously,” Adesanya said. “The Ciryl Gane fight was the one that made me go, ‘Yeah, he’s the best.’ I thought Ciryl Gane was going to give him some trouble, and Ciryl was the new-age heavyweight. Jones was like, ‘Hold on there.’ … The guy’s just crafty, creative with what he does.
“But with Stipe, Stipe is tough. He can outwork a lot of heavyweights. You’ve seen what he’s done in the past, you’ve seen his reign as a heavyweight. … But in this fight, man, I think he’s up against it,” Adesanya continued. “I’m going to pick Jon Jones….first two rounds, he’s going to finish him. … If Stipe gets it done, it will be the biggest upset in UFC history.”
Miocic will look to prove Adesanya wrong and deliver a major shock in “The Big Apple.”
In doing so, he’d likely return to the heavyweight throne in an even more shocking fashion than his redemption against Daniel Cormier back in 2019.
- Read More: Jon Jones Says He’ll Only Entertain ‘Super Fights’ Like Derrick Lewis & Jamahal Hill After UFC 309
