"It has clouded the decision" - UFC insider makes eye-opening claim on why heavyweight legend picked Francis Ngannou to beat Jon Jones

UFC heavyweight legend Stipe Miocic picked Francis Ngannou as the winner in a hypothetical fight against reigning heavyweight champion Jon Jones. This garnered a reaction from Chael Sonnen, who shed light on the potential reason behind Miocic’s choice.

Miocic was recently interviewed by The Schmo, where he was asked to pick a winner in a hypothetical matchup between ‘Bones’ and Ngannou while discussing the greatest heavyweight of all time. Having faced both fighters in his career, Miocic was in a prime position to assess the matchup. The 42-year-old backed 'The Predator' but also acknowledged Jones' technical skill advantage.

Meanwhile, Sonnen speculated a completely different reason behind Miocic picking Ngannou. On his YouTube channel, the UFC Hall of Famer asserted that Jones has a habit of portraying himself as the victim, especially when building up fights.

Sonnen claimed that during Jones' scheduled bout with Miocic, the heavyweight champion falsely accused Miocic of things he never said, attempting to paint him as the villain to get into the right mindset for the fight.

Sonnen said:

"Jon also likes to be a victim. He likes it if we're fighting, but we're fighting for a reason. Oh, and by the way, the side that I stand on is righteous, thus needing to make his opponent a very bad guy who made very bad statements.

"And I just tell you that because Stipe was innocent. Stipe did not do the things that Jon said that Stipe did, but I understood why Jon was insisting he did. It's very important that you understand this. And when this fight got over, Jon didn't then take any of those things back. Jon then enjoyed his moment of conquering the evil empire—Stipe Miocic.”

Many things were said leading up to UFC 309, with Jones even accusing Miocic of making comments about his relationship with his daughters. Sonnen believes that the hatred in their build-up might have fueled Miocic's decision to favor Ngannou over Jones in a hypothetical fight. Sonnen stated:

“Stipe is as close to perfect reputation-wise as you could possibly be in this space.And I'm only telling you that because I don't think Stipe's ever had somebody come at him like that before. What Jon was accusing Stipe of, as a way of just getting himself into the right mindset, I think it offended him. And I think because of that offense, it has clouded the decision for Stipe to say that Francis would beat him.”

Check out Chael Sonnen's comments below (4:07):

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Jon Jones reacts to Stipe Miocic picking Francis Ngannou as greatest heavyweight

Jon Jones took to his Instagram story to share a post highlighting Stipe Miocic’s comments, where the former heavyweight champion picked Francis Ngannou as the greatest heavyweight. Jones kept his reaction brief, simply writing:

“Of course.”