UFC 309 promised us returns and exits, then delivered both. Jon Jones retained his UFC heavyweight title with help from a spinning back kick that finally took the legs out from under former champ Stipe Miocic. Then it was Jones who declared he was staying while Miocic announced he was going.
But that’s not all we saw on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Here the five key takeaways from UFC 309.
1. Jon Jones is the best heavyweight … in the UFC … who entered the cage on this particular night.
Beyond that, we can’t say for sure. Jones beat a 42-year-old former champ who looked his age. He beat him soundly, and somewhat easily. But the lineal MMA heavyweight champ is still Francis Ngannou. And the interim UFC heavyweight champ is still Tom Aspinall. The result here didn’t change any of that.
That’s not to say that this win was meaningless for Jones. He dominated light heavyweight for years, then went up a division and is now 2-0 as a heavyweight. That’s not nothing. But beating a version of Miocic who clearly had one foot already out the door is not the kind of thing that instantly cements you as the baddest man on the planet. Sorry, it just isn’t.
2. All these people accusing Jones of being a duck, when really he’s more of a fox.
Look, I hate to say I told you so (no I don’t), but didn’t I hypothesize that maybe all Jones’ talk about retiring and avoiding Aspinall was just a negotiating ploy? Then he beats Miocic and what does he do? He gets on the microphone and says, well, actually maybe he won’t retire after all — if the money is right.
This is a smart move by Jones. He’s created a demand from the audience. Now he’s giving the UFC an incentive to pay him more in order to meet that demand. Will it work? That remains to be seen. But at this point in his career it’s reasonable to assume there might only be one or two more big fights left, so Jones might as well try to extract the maximum price for each one.
The Aspinall fight is the only one to make. The UFC has two heavyweight titles floating around at the moment. If it doesn’t unify them, the whole thing looks like a joke. Aspinall seems scary enough to be interesting for Jones, while also presenting enough of a challenge that a win over him would give Jones a brand new way to cement his legacy. And hasn’t he been saying that legacy is what really matters to him?
3. Even in retirement, Stipe gonna Stipe.
That retirement announcement was pure Miocic. The way he threw it out there almost as an afterthought – oh yeah, by the way I’m done – it was like he was leaving a backyard barbecue rather than the professional sport that’s defined his adult life. I’ve seen people make a much bigger deal out of giving up sugar. The way Miocic signed off from his MMA career, you got the sense that he might not have even mentioned it at all if Joe Rogan hadn’t asked him directly.
Whatever else anyone may say about Miocic, let them say he was always exactly himself. He has never known how to be any other way. He was incapable, even when it might have benefitted him. While it’s a little sad to see him go out on two straight knockout losses, there’s a dignity in never once compromising who he was. I hope he’s remembered as much for that as he is for his consecutive title defenses.
4. Michael Chandler’s reputation as a guy who loses in entertaining fashion remains intact.
For the first four rounds, Chandler had absolutely nothing for Charles Oliveira. Then, in the final frame, he found some life. But as has been the case for him in all the high-level fights he’s had in the UFC, Chandler just couldn’t put it all together when it mattered. The result was a lopsided decision, but one in which he managed to thrill the crowd right up until the final horn.
There are worse legacies to have. Oliveira reminded us that he’s still very good, while Chandler had to settle for being very fun. I just don’t know exactly where that leaves Chandler if Conor McGregor never returns to face him in that long awaited money fight that at this point feels mostly like a mirage.
5. Well, at least Bo Nickal was impressed with Bo Nickal’s performance.
Nickal won a decision over Paul Craig, an 8-1 underdog. He didn’t attempt a single takedown and never seemed remotely close to a finish. Still, Nickal insisted that he “dominated” the fight, even as the boos rained down from the rafters in Madison Square Garden.
There’s only so long you can keep telling us that you’re actually doing really well for a guy who’s still learning this sport before we wonder: A) why are you fighting on the pay-per-view portion of a UFC event if you’re such a raw work in progress, and B) how much longer until you become who you’re supposed to eventually be?
Nickal seemed to fall in love with his improved striking game here, forgetting entirely his strengths as a wrestler. Was this him trying to prove a point? Did he just have that much respect for Craig’s submissions game off his back? I’m not sure, but it definitely didn’t result in the kind of win we were expecting from a guy who entered the UFC as a star in waiting. Those boos at the end? That was the sound of a fan base that’s growing impatient.
