UFC 309 Preview

The UFC is invading Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday, November 16th for UFC 309. The main event will be for the heavyweight championship as two future Hall of Famers will collide. Champion Jon Jones will face former champion #8 Stipe Miocic. The two were originally scheduled to fight at UFC 295 but Jones had to withdraw from the fight due to injury,

This is a battle that UFC fans once dreamed of back in 2017 when Miocic was the heavyweight champion and Jon Jones was the light heavyweight champion. However, Jones was stripped of the light heavyweight title that same year after testing positive for a banned substance. Jones would not fight again for over 12 months and by the time he was back Miocic had begun an epic trilogy with Daniel Cormier and fighting Jones was seemingly forgotten.

After Jones won the vacant heavyweight title in 2023, he was once again linked to a fight with Miocic even though the former champion at the time had not fought in two years. On Saturday it will have been three years and six months since Miocic last stepped foot in the octagon. It has been four years since he last won a fight. While there are numerous opinions as to why this fight is happening, the one certainty is that Jones and Miocic are fighting each other to solidify their own legacies.

The pundits may think interim champion Tom Aspinall is more deserving of a title shot, but Miocic does not think it is his problem. “It wasn’t my choice,” Miocic said. “It’s a fight I wanted, and the UFC gave it to me. They didn’t have to. They gave it to me. I believe so [there’s a reason why it’s happening]. I believe people want to see that. I think a lot more people want to see the fight than him fight Aspinall. [Aspinall is] tough. He hits hard. Big boy. It’s what people want, he knocks people out.”

Miocic has chosen to ignore the criticism heading into the fight with Jones. “I don’t listen to anything on the outside. I used to when I was younger, when I started I was like why would you say that? How dare you? I was real sensitive. I literally stopped caring anymore. I don’t care what anyone says. I really don’t care.”

Jones won the belt in 2023 with a first-round submission of former interim champion Ciryl Gane at UFC 285, but he has not fought since. Jones has questioned whether a long term run as heavyweight champion is his top priority. “I could see myself after this entertaining super fights only,” Jones said. “If we get a dominant performance, I’m prepared to vacate the heavyweight championship and fight for fun. I want to fight for fun. … I don’t necessarily want it to be over, but I just want to fight for fun.”

He continued, “I think about one of my teammates, Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, he just fights. Win, lose, or draw, he just fights. I would love to kind of experience that for the first time in my career, just not having this belt to protect. Just fighting guys that I’d stylistically want to fight against,” Jones continued. “Random fights like Jamahal Hill. … I’m at an interesting weight where I can fight light heavyweights or heavyweights. Derrick Lewis, Biggest knockout puncher in history.”

Jones has his reasons for not wanting to fight Aspinall. “If I’m being completely honest, I feel like Tom’s been such an a*****e that I don’t wanna do business with him,” he said. “His fans have been so annoying. And obviously you don’t get this far into a career being affected by fans and whatnot, but he’s just an a*****e. With his – he’s 30, so he’s from this influencer generation where you hop online, and the t-shirt sales and all that. I’m past that type of stuff. I’m like ‘Bro, if you had a little bit more respect, then maybe we could have worked something out.’ I just don’t even wanna do business with him.”

The champion continued, “Fighting me gives [Aspinall] an opportunity to change his life forever. And I don’t even wanna give him the opportunity. He just played his cards wrong with me, personally. And I’m three years from being a 40-year-old grown man, you know what I’m saying? It’s just like – the press conference, going through the whole shebang with him, I’d rather not do. Pereira on the other side – respectful, cool, barely says much. It’s like – I’ll do business with you. I would risk it all with a human being like you. And you actually have the accolades to back up your s***. This other guy is just a big mouth who’s hot today.”

If Jones wins on Saturday and does vacate the belt, it will cause a shuffle at the top of the heavyweight ranks. If Miocic becomes a three-time champion at the age of 42 by beating Jones who is widely considered the greatest MMA fighter of all-time, what does he have left to prove?

Miocic is the most accomplished heavyweight champion in UFC history. He is the only heavyweight champ to defend the belt three times and he added a fourth title defense after becoming a two-time champion. He has key victories in his career over Daniel Cormier (twice), Francis Ngannou, Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, Andrei Arlovksi and Mark Hunt. A win over Jones, will cement his legacy as the best heavyweight in UFC history.

Jones had eight title defenses of the light heavyweight belt which is the most in the division’s history and then three during his second reign. The 37-year-old only has one loss on his record, and it was due to disqualification. He was the youngest fighter to win a belt in the UFC at the age of 23 where he defeated Shogun Rua at UFC 128 in 2011.

After winning his first title, Jones collected key victories over Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Alexander Gustafsson (twice), Glover Texeira and Daniel Cormier. With his victory over Dominick Reyes in 2020, he tied the record for most overall title defenses in UFC history. Jones has been suspended three times and has had his fair share of troubles outside of the octagon, but as a fighter he will go down as one of the best if not the best to ever do it.

The co-main event of the evening will be a lightweight rematch between former champion Charles Oliveira and former title challenger #7 Michael Chandler. The two first met at UFC 262 in 2021 for the vacant lightweight title. Oliveira had an amazing come from behind win when he shocked Chandler stopping him by TKO in the second round.

Oliveira defended the belt twice before losing to current champion Islam Machachev at UFC 280. He most recently lost a razor thin split decision to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300 in April. Both Oliveira and Chandler have strong feelings about the rematch and feel that a win would result in a title shot.

How does Oliviera feel heading into this rematch? “He wants to be a champion for the first time. I want to be the champion again,” Oliveira said. “The champion of the lightweight division has a name – we know this. I beat Michael Chandler once. I’m going to beat Michael Chandler again.

“I think a lot of people come and talk. Everybody comes here and says the same things. They talk the talk. They say they have plans about things, or they’re going to do something. But you have to come here and do things. This is a magical stage – a great place to be with the energy of the crowd. I’m going to be in this fight pushing forward, charging forward.”

Oliveira has been fighting in the UFC since 2010. He has key victories in his storied career over Jeremy Stephens, Clay Guida, Jim Miller, Kevin Lee, Tony Ferguson, Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaetjhe and Beniel Dariush. A second convincing win over Chandler could be what the 35-year-old Brazilian needs to once again fight for the lightweight title.

Chandler has not fought in two years after waiting for a fight with Conor McGregor, but the showdown could never materialize. The 38-year-old is 2-3 in the UFC and most recently lost to Dustin Poirier in a fight of the night at UFC 281. He talked about the layoff heading into UFC 309.

“The last two years for me have been all about growth and patience,” Chandler said. “Obviously with the way the Conor McGregor thing happened, I like to say it happened for me and not to me. There were definitely moments where it was tough, but overall, as I sit here today, I look back on it and realize it was such a huge blessing for me. I needed a little bit of time off physically, mentally, spiritually. I spent a ton of time with my family, a ton of time working on passions outside of the Octagon. Now I sit here happy, healthy and hard to kill, and I think it's because I was able to take those two years off.”

Why a rematch with Charles Oliveira? “As we pivoted, the UFC brought up Charles Oliveira,” Chandler said. “He needed a fight. He wants that title back. He is hungry for that title back. He wants to get the title shot back and they said, you’ve got to go through Michael Chandler first. Our first fight was an absolute banger. I won 10-8 in the first round and then slipped up in the second and lost, so I got some making up to do. I’ve got to right a wrong, and what better place to do it than Madison Square Garden? What better time than November 16th at UFC 309, co-main event on the biggest card of the year?”

Chandler is looking for redemption. “I had two-and-a-half minutes of UFC experience at the time that I stepped inside the Octagon against Charles Oliveira,” Chandler said. “I was a 34-year-old salty veteran. I wasn't new in the sport, but I was new to the UFC and whether people know what that feels like or not, it was something different, it was something bigger and I cracked under the pressure. I didn't fight how I should have fought, I fought recklessly, and I paid for it and that's why we love this sport. Anybody can win on any given night. You make one mistake, and you wake up staring at the lights and your dreams are shattered. Charles Oliveira shattered my dreams of becoming the number one lightweight in the world at UFC 262 and now at UFC 309 I get to right that wrong and I'm excited to go do it.”

What will Chandler do differently this time around against Oliverira? “I do believe that I will be a different guy on Saturday night, but still the same old Michael Chandler, who is going to put you on the edge of your seat from bell to bell. I will steal the show at Madison Square Garden November 16th.”

The rest of the main card:

Middleweight - Bo Nickal vs. Paul Craig

Women’s Flyweight - #9 Viviane Araújo vs. #11Karine Silva

Catchweight (165 lb) - Mauricio Ruffy vs. James Llontop

ESPN+ Prelims:

Bantamweight - Jonathan Martinez vs. Marcus McGhee

Middleweight- Chris Weidman vs. Eryk Anders

Lightweight - Jim Miller vs. Damon Jackson

Lightweight - David Onama vs. Roberto Romero

Early Prelims on ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass:

Heavyweight - Marcin Tybura vs. Jhonata Diniz

Welterweight - Mickey Gall vs. Ramiz Brahimaj

Welterweight - Bassil Hafez vs. Oban Elliot

Women's Flyweight - Veronica Hardy vs. Eduarda Moura