It appears as though a potential interim heavyweight title bout between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic won’t happen this summer as originally planned.
UFC president Dana White recently hinted that a Jones-Miocic matchup might happen at UFC 276. Meanwhile, Jones advisor Richard Schaefer told ESPN that the promotion discussed “Bones” facing Miocic with the interim belt on the line in the main event of the July 2 card in Las Vegas.
However, Jones tweeted on Tuesday that Miocic won’t be ready to fight by that proposed date.
“Stipe is saying that he will be at his absolute peak in September,” Jones wrote. “I’m disappointed but patient, I want the heavyweight goat at his absolute best. I’ll wait until September. No excuses.”
According to Schaefer, Jones is ready to make his heavyweight debut no matter the opponent. The one stipulation is that an interim heavyweight belt must be on the line.
"We just want to fight for the heavyweight title," Schaefer said. "Jon doesn't give a s--t against who. As long as it's for the title. He's been waiting, he's been training. He's mentally and physically ready.”
With reigning heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou on the mend from knee surgery and also pursuing a future fight with recently retired boxing champ Tyson Fury, the likelihood of the UFC creating an interim title is quite high.
Miocic last appeared at UFC 260 in March 2021, when he relinquished the heavyweight crown to Ngannou in a second-round knockout loss. The Ohio-based firefighter still holds the promotion record for most successful heavyweight title defenses with three.
Jones, meanwhile, hasn’t fought since defending the light heavyweight crown with a five-round verdict over Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 in February 2020. However, it appears that the ex-champ isn’t interested in being idle for too much longer, as Schaefer told ESPN Jones won’t sit out beyond September.
"We would not want to sit around another two months and now we're talking December,” Schaefer said.
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