Jon Jones casts doubt on July UFC heavyweight title fight, Stipe Miocic responds

Jon Jones isn’t sure he’ll be fighting Stipe Miocic anytime soon, but a response from the former champion could put his uncertainty to rest.

The UFC heavyweight champion, and arguably the greatest fighter to compete in MMA, is starting to doubt that his highly-anticipated title defense against Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) will go down in July, as many expected. Although the matchup has not been made official, all parties including the UFC brass, Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-10 UFC) and Miocic have publicly expressed interest in having the bout go down during the UFC’s international fight week in July.

Now, Jones is saying he’s hearing Miocic might not be on board.

“Yo @stipemiocic only you, the UFC and I know the truth, you dodged me all of 2022 – July, September & December,” Jones wrote on Twitter. “Now I’m hearing rumors that we may not be fighting this July.”

“Bro it’s simple, either you believe in yourself or you don’t,” Jones wrote in a second tweet. “Either you want this challenge or you don’t. Stop wasting everyone’s time.”

Yo @stipemiocic only you the UFC and I know the truth, you dodged me all of 2022 – July, September & December.
Now I’m hearing rumors that we may not be fighting this July.

— BONY (@JonnyBones) March 16, 2023

Bro it’s simple, either you believe in yourself or you don’t. Either you want this challenge or you don’t. Stop wasting everyone’s time.

— BONY (@JonnyBones) March 16, 2023

A few minutes later, the tweets from Jones prompted a short, yet reassuring message from Miocic, who simply wrote, “See you in July.”

See you in July. pic.twitter.com/lH7ZzemPCH

— Stipe Miocic (@stipemiocic) March 16, 2023

Jones is coming off a quick, first-round submission win over Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC 285 last month in Las Vegas. With the win, he captured the vacant UFC heavyweight title, a belt previously held by now free agent Francis Ngannou, and became one of the few fighters to have held UFC belts in two different weight classes.

The fight at UFC 285 also marked Jones’ return to competition, as he had taken a three-year absence from the sport after vacating the light heavyweight title back in early 2020.

Miocic, 40, held the UFC heavyweight title on two separate occasions, defending it a total of four times. He’s considered by many to be the greatest heavyweight in UFC history. Miocic hasn’t competed since March 2021, when he lost the belt to Ngannou by second-round knockout.