If Jon Jones doesn’t make UFC 309, Anthony Smith thinks Stipe Miocic would fight Tom Aspinall on short notice.
Interim champion Aspinall has been dubbed as the official backup for the heavyweight title fight between champion Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) and Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC), which headlines the Nov. 16 event at Madison Square Garden.
Daniel Cormier doubts either Jones or Miocic would fight Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) if the other withdraws, but Smith disagrees.
“I think (Miocic) will,” Smith said on his “Believe You Me” podcast with Michael Bisping. “Anytime I’ve ever had conversations about this kind of stuff with Stipe – I know that I think in this whole media world and not just you (Bisping) and I, but the media in the general and the UFC and everyone that talks about it, they make it seem like Stipe really gives a sh*t. He doesn’t really give a sh*t. He’s barely a fighter. Like, he doesn’t have the mentality of a fighter unless he’s in there actively fighting. He doesn’t talk about fights, he doesn’t really watch them that much. He trains every single day, but he’s just not immersed in this world at all.
“He wants to beat Jon because everyone else says that Jon is the best. He couldn’t care less about Jon Jones. He just doesn’t. Whether it’s Jon or it’s Tom Aspinall, he’s going to train about the same. It’s not going to really change much. He has that mentality where it’s not about what that guy is going to do and how I’m going to react to it. His whole mindset is flipped. Here’s what I’m going to do and he has to deal with it. That’s how Stipe’s mindset has always been. So, whether it’s Jon or whether it’s Tom, it doesn’t change anything for Stipe.”
Both Jones and Miocic will be returning from long layoffs, with Miocic having not fought since March 2021, and Jones March 2023. Meanwhile, Aspinall has already defended his interim title with a quick TKO of Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in July.
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