It has been more than three years since Stipe Miocic has fought in the UFC and he’s prepared to wait a little bit longer if it means securing his preferred fight against Jon Jones.
Miocic, generally regarded as the best UFC heavyweight champion in history and Jones, the man who currently holds the title, had been expected to fight one another late last year in Madison Square Garden — however that fight was pulled a few weeks out due to a pectoral injury sustained by Jones in preparation.
That led to some quick thinking from UFC matchmakers, who booked a short-notice interim heavyweight title fight between Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich, which was won by the Briton by sensational first-round knockout.
Stipe Miocic remains adamant that he will sit out and wait for the Jon Jones fight:
“You’re damn right [I’ll be Jon’s first fight when he comes back]. That’s what I want.
I’m gonna wait, I don’t care. I want that fight.”
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Since then, though, there has been something of an impasse at the summit of the heavyweight division as Jones seems unwilling to accept a bout with Aspinall while the Miocic fight remains on his horizon.
But despite the fact that Miocic will likely be 42 by the time the Jones fight becomes a reality, he is in no rush.
“You’re damn right – I’m gonna wait [for Jones],” Miocic said while speaking on Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson’s ‘JAXXON’ podcast.
He added: “I don’t care. I want that fight… I”ve been there, done that. There”s one guy on the radar.”
It is now 14 months since Jones’ heavyweight debut in which he won the vacant title in a fight with Frenchman Ciyrl Gane and in August it will be three years since the previous time that the title was up for grabs (Francis Ngannou vs. Gane).
