Israel Adesanya gives his official prediction for Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic at UFC 309

Former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya offered his insights on UFC 309's main event, which will feature Jon Jones defending his heavyweight title for the first time against Stipe Miocic.

In his second heavyweight appearance since claiming the title against Ciryl Gane, Jones faces Miocic, who has the most heavyweight title defenses in UFC history.

The former champion, however, hasn’t fought since his 2021 knockout loss to Francis Ngannou. Adesanya, expressing admiration for both fighters, had this to say about the fight:

“Jon Jones looks better at heavyweight already. He’s been taking it seriously, and the way he fights… the Ciryl Gane fight was the one that made me go ‘He’s the best.' Because I thought Ciryl Gane was going to give him some trouble, and Ciryl was the new-age heavyweight, and Jon said, ‘Hold my beer.’ The guy is just crafty, creative at what he does.”

Predicting an early finish, he added:

“Stipe is tough. He can outwork a lot of heavyweights, we’ve seen what he’s done in the past. We’ve seen his reign as a heavyweight, knocked people out, submitted people. But this fight, I think he’s up against it. I’m going to pick Jon Jones… First two rounds he’s going to finish him.”

Check out Israel Adesanya's comments below (12:00):

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Israel Adesanya shares his pick for Charles Oliveira vs. Michael Chandler 2

Israel Adesanya also shared his thoughts on the co-main event rematch between Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler at UFC 309. The two lightweight contenders are set to clash again, three years after Oliveira claimed the title by finishing Chandler in the second round at UFC 262.

This time, Oliveira is coming off a narrow split-decision loss, while Chandler returns after a two-year hiatus following a thrilling defeat to Dustin Poirier. Predicting the fight in the aforementioned video on his YouTube channel, Adesanya said:

“If [Oliveira] is gonna win, I think he would be patient and do what he did last time [at UFC 262], patient and find the shots. If Chandler's gonna win, I think of balls to the wall from the f**king bell. Go balls to the wall and just attack 'Do Bronx', like make him shoot like he did it first time. Just f**king go. Becuase that first round, he can definitely get Charles Oliveira in the first round. He almost got him in the first fight."

He added:

"My heart says Chandler but my head says 'Do Bronx'. I'm gonna go with my heart on this one. I'm gonna go Chandler." [9:53]