UFC 309: Jones vs. Miocic (11/16/2024) - New York City, NY (Madison Square Garden)

[Elsalvajeloco]

UFC 309: Jones vs. Miocic
November 16, 2024
New York City, NY (Madison Square Garden)

UFC Heavyweight Championship: Jon Jones © (237.6) vs. Stipe Miocic (248.6) (first defense) - Jones, TKO (spinning back kick and punches), R3 (4:29)
Charles Oliveira (155.6) vs. Michael Chandler (155.6) - Oliveira, DEC (unanimous)
Bo Nickal (185.4) vs. Paul Craig (186) - Nickal, DEC (unanimous)
Karine Silva (125.8) vs. Viviane Araujo (125.6) - Araujo, DEC (unanimous)
Mauricio Ruffy (164.4) vs. James Llontop (166.2)* - Ruffy, DEC (unanimous)

ESPNews / FX / Hulu / ESPN+ Preliminary Card:
Jonathan Martinez (135.8) vs. Marcus McGhee (135.6) - McGhee, DEC (unanimous)
Jim Miller (155.6) vs. Damon Jackson (155.2) - Miller, SUB (guillotine choke), R1 (2:44)
Roberto Romero (155) vs. David Onama (155.6) - Onama, DEC (unanimous)
Marcin Tybura (251) vs. Jhonata Diniz (253.2) - Tybura, TKO (doctor stoppage), R2 (5:00)

ESPN+ / Fight Pass Preliminary Card:
Mickey Gall (170.8) vs. Ramiz Brahimaj (170.2) - Brahimaj, KO (punches), R1 (2:55)
Oban Elliott (170) vs. Bassil Hafez (171) - Elliott, KO (punches), R3 (0:40)
Veronica Hardy (125.8) vs. Eduarda Moura (125.2) - Moura, DEC (unanimous)

*Forfeits 20% of purse for missing weight

Event Bonuses ($50,000)
Performance of the Night: Oban Elliott
Performance of the Night: Ramiz Brahimaj
Performance of the Night: Jon Jones
Fight of the Night: Charles Oliveira vs. Michael Chandler

Attendance: 20,200
Gate: $16.7 million

[The Natural]

This is the weakest UFC MSG PPV IMO. I'm hoping Stipe Miocic can defy Father Time, turn back the hands of time and clock Jon Jones KTFO style. I'd fucking love it. Looking forward to Charles Oliveira vs. Michael Chandler 2. Michael Chandler fights are always dramatic. Be interesting to see how he looks as he hasn't fought in over two years.

[The Natural]

UFC are permanently reverting back to the old UFC gloves. The new ones didn't last long at all.

[The Natural]

Don't think I'll be able to see this one live.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Weakest MSG card?

Look...I like Daniel Cormier. I love Derrick Lewis.

No way that should have main evented in the world's most famous arena, but it did. On the main event alone, it jumps that card. The co-main is WAY better than Jacare vs. Chris Weidman. So yeah, it ain't the weakest MSG card. 

[Lawful Metal]

Lawful Jr is picking Stipe.  I can't bring myself to do it, but I'll be rooting for him?

[The Natural]

1 hour ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Weakest MSG card?

Look...I like Daniel Cormier. I love Derrick Lewis.

No way that should have main evented in the world's most famous arena, but it did. On the main event alone, it jumps that card. The co-main is WAY better than Jacare vs. Chris Weidman. So yeah, it ain't the weakest MSG card. 

I'll be honest, I forgot about Cormier/Lewis.

[jaedmc]

This card has some interesting under card matchups.

Jonathan Martinez vs. Marcus McGhee could be a potential fight of the night.

Old Man Jim Miller has a winnable fight with Damon Jackson.

I really like the idea of Paul Craig vs. Bo Nickal, but Craig's chin has given up on him too many times recently - that this feels like a potential KO victory for Bo.

I can only hope that Oliveira vs. Chandler is nearly as dramatic as the first fight.

I don't know what to expect from the main event. Stipe Miocic has knocked some incredible people out. And if I'm to think of his path to victory, I think of Jones' fight with Dominck Reyes, and how hit-able he was. Obviously 42 year old Miocic won't be as fast or explosive as a then 20something Dom Reyes, but Jones is older and heavier too. It feels possible despite everything leading up to this fight feeling like a slam dunk for Bones.

[jaedmc]

Man I'm a fan of Marcin Tybura. Dude just comes to work. And holy guacamole did he shred up Diniz' face with some elbows.

 

 

[jaedmc]

Don't worry Tyson fans still bummed from last night.

JIM MOTHER FUCKING MILLER IS OUT HERE DOING THE THING FOR ALL THE OLD DOGS.

Edit: Damon Jackson took his gloves off in disgust and retired. Ouch.

[waffle]

Hell yes, Jim MILLER! 19 finishes in the UFC. First was in 2008. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

Jim Miller is going to be the Mike Jackson (the great Alabama wrestler, not the journalist who fought Punk) of the UFC.

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

2 hours ago, jaedmc said:

Man I'm a fan of Marcin Tybura. Dude just comes to work. And holy guacamole did he shred up Diniz' face with some elbows.

 

 

Okay, I just saw that. Goddamn, that looked like when Cain fought Pezao several years ago. Like a crime scene.

[jaedmc]

27 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Okay, I just saw that. Goddamn, that looked like when Cain fought Pezao several years ago. Like a crime scene.

If you're sifting through the undercard, the Onama fight, particularly the first round is must see.

[waffle]

Chandler remains one of the most hilarious fighters to watch. (also never afraid to cheat)

Edited November 17, 2024 by waffle

[jaedmc]

Michael Chandler never loses.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Stipe tried, but try as he might, it's definitely enough to beat Jon Jones especially at this age. You could time Stipe with a sundial. Even the shots on the inside he is usually good with, it had no effect on Jon. Then, Jon just decimated him with that spin kick. Tough way to go out, but that's how usually ends in combat sports.

[waffle]

Jon is so damn good. Worked the body all night, then the spin kick was the cherry. 

[jaedmc]

Yeah, Stipe landed some shots that would've garnered respect 4 years ago. The extra zing just wasn't in it any more.

Tom Aspinall has his hands full with this one.

[Lawful Metal]

It was a repeat of Friday night except Jon is a killer

at at least Do Bronx won. Almost every single action Chandler did was cheating. Grabbing gloves, cages eye pokes rabbit punches Jesus 

[Craig H]

Yeah…That was a major bummer to watch. Dude is probably my all time favorite fighter, but everyone knew he was basically retired and content with the fire department. I’m happy he finally did the Jones fight even if this was the result, but I wish it would have happened 4 or 5 years ago. I hope he enjoys being the richest firefighter ever, which given the number of firefighters I know, he probably will.

Dude rules and him dismantling Ngannou in their first fight and just digging into Ngannou’s body to break him is one of the Bear things I’ve ever seen in MMA.

[Elsalvajeloco]

It's crazy that Stipe beat Werdum back in 2016. That shit doesn't feel that long ago for me. But yeah, honestly, I can say that I didn't expect Stipe to be HW champion and definitely didn' expect him to go on the run he did. If people remember, that was suppose to be Cain and JDS's era. However, it just never came to fruition. After seeing really dominant champions in damn near every weight class, the HW division just seemed super cursed between injuries and other stuff. And yeah, that first Ngannou fight looks REALLY, REALLY strong now. That is to Stipe what the first Pacquiao fight is to Erik Morales. Morales was already a bonified Hall of Famer by the time he was 24-26 years old anyway, but he beat Manny when Pacquaio was terrifying everyone and it wasn't some weird fluke. People also expected Ngannou to have this Gabriel Gonzaga like trajectory where he just goes down from there and that was the peak of his career. That definitely has not happened to Ngannou. 

Hats off to Stipe for a damn good career.

[Elsalvajeloco]

With that said, who do people want Jon to fight now? I like Aspinall and he's easily a decent #2 guy, but nothing says he has anything Jon wouldn't be able to deal with. Even old Stipe can at least probably catch you. 

I think Poatan poses the biggest threat even moreso than a Francis Ngannou because Jon has never fought a guy THAT skilled in terms of striking. Yeah he has a major disadvantage in terms of grappling, but you have to still get close to him to take him down. If Ngannou was still in the UFC, I can easily see the strategy against Francis just cause Stipe already designed the template to beat him. It's just a little bit more difficult now to implement since Ngannou isn't a complete fish out of the water and seemingly acclimated more to a grappling centric fight. The template is still there. However, with an Alex Pereira, you just cannot exit out like he did frequently with Stipe last night. That will get you caught every time. Pereira is just a scary proposition cause even if he's down 2-3 rounds, do you feel completely safe in the championship rounds should it go that far that he won't catch you? For all the improvements Ngannou has made, if you get to round 3, you're pretty much out of hot water with him. You just can't get too lackadaisical, but you should be fine overall.

[A.M.B.]

I saw nothing in the main event that really informs me any more on the Jones/Aspinall fight. I favored Jones before and after last night. But I still see Aspinall as Jones' only decent threat in the UFC now, though that literally shouldn't even matter. There's an interim champ who's defended once, there simply is no defending Jones' facing anyone else. Also Jones' legacy was built on being the young lion taking out the old guard, though he never really took on many people much younger than him (And when he did Reyes won IMO). The most fitting end is for him to take out that big star from the new generation. Really hard to tell where the Jones looked great/Stipe looked awful line is. I just couldn't believe how weak and slow everything Stipe threw looked. Aspinall would have smoked him in a minute. Seeing that O-Soto-Gari Jones hit last night, Poatan stands no fucking chance.

[Craig H]

I mean, Stipe was essentially retired prior to this fight. He likely took it for the payday and probably a little to give fans something they had been waiting for.