Jones Vs Miocic Headed To ‘Big Card’ In 2024

International Fight Week, Take Two?

UFC loves interim titles … especially in the heavy-fake division.

Jon Jones suffered a serious training injury and will be forced to undergo surgery, leaving him on the shelf for at least eight months. In his absence, Stipe Miocic will return to his self-imposed exile and Tom Aspinall will join the UFC 295 fight card on Nov. 11 in New York to battle fellow top contender Sergei Pavlovich for the substitute strap.

Read all the gory details here.

“The UFC’s hope is to still book Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic on a big card in 2024 once Jones returns from injury,” ESPN correspondent Marc Raimondi wrote on social media. “A lot of people are asking why didn’t Miocic stay on UFC 295 and fight for the interim belt. What would be the point? Jones vs. Miocic was the legacy fight. Why risk losing that if you’re Miocic? The UFC can still rebook it for next year and it would be just as big.”

I guess there is no such thing as “Mystic Ryan.”

Jones, 36, returned from a three-year layoff to capture the crown with a submission victory over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 back in March. As for the 41 year-old Miocic, he’s been on the sidelines since his knockout loss to Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 back in March 2021. “The Predator” would later depart UFC to pursue a career in boxing.

At the highest level imaginable.

Neither Jones nor Miocic have commented on the UFC 295 shakeup … yet.