Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic successfully made weight today for their massive UFC heavyweight world title showdown at UFC 309 this weekend. The champ Jones weighed in at 237.6 pounds while the challenger Miocic tipped the scale at 248.6. This large disparity between the two legends might play a key role in the fight - or it might now.
Still, a lot of fans are reacting to the weight of both Jones and Miocic, particularly how they're not very close to the 265-pound heavyweight limit.
ESPN MMA posted videos of the weigh-ins on Instagram:
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One man, the UFC's official cutman Brad Tate, pointed out how closer the two are to the weight class below than the actual heavyweight ceiling:
"205 ain’t that far away!!! Just saying"
Perhaps Tate's subtle suggestion would influence either Jon Jones or Stipe Miocic to drop down a weight class and challenge another iconic champion in Alex 'Poatan' Pereira. Whoever wins this weekend will have the choice in front of them.
Jon Jones prefers fighting Alex Pereira instead of unifying belts against Tom Aspinall
It seems Jon Jones will take Tate's advice after all. In a recent interview with Kevin Iole ahead of UFC 309, 'Bones' answered the question of whether or not he'll face interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall - should Jones successfully defend his belt at UFC 309.
The two-division UFC champion is more concerned with building a legacy, and wouldn't want to risk it all on someone like Aspinall, whom he believes hasn't done enough.
Jones said:
"I feel like Tom Aspinall is, I don't want to say 'nobody', but he just hasn't proven anything. He hasn't done anything...I'm not here to gamble someone else making a name off of me. I'm here to compete against the guys where, when we look back ten years from now, it'll be like 'Jon Jones fought this guy and that guy and this legend and this champion."
On who he truly wants to face after UFC 309, Jones said:
"If there were to be a fight [with] a guy that's still on the UFC roster that would be, not only financially worth it, but 'legacy' worth it, it would be Alex Pereira."
Check out Jon Jones' statement here (7:56):