The long awaited heavyweight title showdown between newly crowned champion Jon Jones and former kingpin Stipe Miocic has finally been announced as the headliner for UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden in New York City on November 11th.
The 35-year-old former long-time light-heavyweight Jones had returned to action after a three-year absence back in March to face a new challenge in a push to win the heavyweight title, and there was little sign of ring rust in his fight for the vacant belt against Ciryl Gane as he took less than half a round to lock in a fight-ending guillotine choke.
After the fight Jones made it clear that the only fight that now held his interest was against the 40-year-old Miocic, who had previously won the heavyweight title on two separate occasions and had successfully defended it on four occasions, beating the likes of Daniel Cormier (x2), Francis Ngannou, Alistair Overeem and Junior dos Santos along the way.
It’s perhaps taken a little longer than expected to put this fight together, with some even suggesting at one stage that the UFC might be looking at Jones vs. current No.1 contender Sergei Pavlovich instead due to the protracted negotiations, but now it’s all signed, sealed and delivered, leaving fans with a massive fight to get excited about towards the end of the year.