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Stipe Miocic was given a rare opportunity at UFC 295. In his twilight years and coming off a devastating knockout loss and a long stretch of inactivity, Miocic was granted a heavyweight title fight against Jon Jones. Not only was it a title fight, it was a main event in the penultimate UFC pay-per-view of the year.
Unfortunately for Miocic, Jones suffered a pectoral tear during training, which forced him to withdraw from the bout. UFC CEO Dana White was quick to book an interim heavyweight title fight between UFC 295 main event backup fighter Sergei Pavlovich and Manchester's Tom Aspinall.
At a recent Power Slap press conference, Dana White was asked why the UFC opted to bring Tom Aspinall into the fold instead of booking Stipe Miocic in an interim title bout with Sergei Pavlovich. The UFC CEO responded:
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"You have the greatest heavyweight of all time versus the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. This is a legacy fight for both of those guys. I mean, to even call Stipe and ask Stipe to fight for an interim title is, you know, complete disrespect."
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White feels that an interim title fight was beneath Stipe Miocic, so he didn't bother to offer him the bout. He further claimed that fans are interested in a bout between Jones and Miocic, despite the negative reception the original match booking drew from the MMA fandom.
White's statements add credence to ESPN correspondent Marc Raimondi's recent claim on X that the UFC hopes to rebook the fight in 2024, which brings into question the merit of the interim title fight booked for UFC 295 if the winner won't go on to face Jones.
Stipe Miocic's last UFC win
Stipe Miocic's most recent octagon outing, a UFC 260 loss to Francis Ngannou, saw him on the receiving end of a brutal knockout. In his bout preceding the Ngannou clash, the former heavyweight champion faced and beat Daniel Cormier in a trilogy fight.
Miocic was also the victor of the pair's previous clash. However, he had lost their initial matchup by first-round knockout, when 'DC' made him pay for his tendency to drop his hands while exiting the clinch.
