The UFC heavyweight division is in a weird spot.

Jon Jones hasn’t been too active this decade. “Bones” has fought twice in the past four years, securing his final light heavyweight title defense with a unanimous decision over Dominick Reyes before he claimed the undisputed heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane last year. Jones’ first defense of his second divisional title was set for last November in New York City’s Madison Square Garden against former two-time champion Stipe Miocic, but unfortunately, injury prevented the all-time great from making the walk.

The matchup has remained on the back burner since. Despite Tom Aspinall’s emergence as the interim titlist after the injury and bout cancelation, he’s stuck waiting. Jones recently teased the idea of a champion vs. champion showdown against the new 205-pound king Alex Pereira. Still, UFC CEO Dana White reassured fight fans it was nothing serious regarding upcoming plans.

“Yeah, it’s Stipe,” White said of who’s next for Jones at the UFC St. Louis post-fight press conference. “I think Jon’s just asking, ‘Who do you like? What do you think?’ Kinda just feeling it out and seeing what people think, but he knows he’s fighting Stipe.

“Sounds right [that the fight will be in New York].”

Miocic, 41, has also been unicorn-like in his octagon appearances over the past four years, competing twice with his last fight resulting in a second-round knockout loss in his Francis Ngannou rematch. That fight took place at UFC 260 in March 2021.

As White alluded to, the proud Ohioan recently revealed his expectations of the Jones matchup getting rebooked for the same location and time frame this year.

“Damn right [I’m next]. That’s what I want,” Miocic said on JAXXON PODCAST. “I’m gonna wait. I don’t care, I want that fight.

“They (UFC) were talking about July, that passed on. I’m thinking more — maybe November again in New York.”

The UFC heads back to Manchester, England for UFC 304 in July. This looks like a prime opportunity for Aspinall to get back in action with an interim title defense if the belts won’t be unified. Unfortunately for the Brit, he shared this past week after the Jones comments that he has no developments around his next time out.

Although an odd heavyweight love triangle has formed in the past six months, Miocic has nothing bad to say about Aspinall. He just wants the fight that he was originally promised — belt or no belt included.

“Tom’s a good champion, great champion,” Miocic said. “He’s tough. Up-and-coming like, not up-and-coming, but young and hungry. We’ll get to that road when we have to but I want Jon Jones.

“I don’t care about the title. I just want to fight Jon Jones. It can be just me and him fighting,” he concluded.

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Prediction. Ben Askren: If Alex Pereira fights Jon Jones, ‘there’s a chance it’s over in like two and a half minutes’

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Honor. Ciryl Gane to carry Olympic torch ahead of 2024 Olympic Games in Paris

Future. Olympic champ David Taylor closes door on wrestling, potential MMA career after becoming Oklahoma State coach

$$$. UFC St. Louis bonuses: Trey Waters, Billy Goff take home Fight of the Night following epic war

VIDEO STEW

UFC St. Louis Post-Show.

UFC Vegas 92 promo.

Free fight.

RIZIN Confessions 149.

Bellator Paris Fight Camp Confidential.

Stylebender training camp.

GSP at Bangtao.

Almighty backyard strength training.

Inside Magomed’s camp.

Cooking with Volk.

Aspinall vs. New York’s Biggest Sandwich.

MORNING MUSIC

Go to Twitter, use the #MorningReport hashtag, or find one of my tweets with it, and drop me a jam you’re currently really into. I’ll pick the best one alongside my daily choice and give you a shoutout! You can also share in the comments below — those are just harder to sift through sometimes!

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

More maximum creative efforts!

Fedor.

Damn!

What a team.

Dude... This barely looks real.

Immortal.

Champ.

Shark.

Back in the win column.

That’s never fun...

Working.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Kevin Holland (25-11, 1 NC) vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk (19-7); UFC 302, June 1

Johnny Case (28-9-1) vs. BeyNoah (2-3); RIZIN 47, June 9

Koji Takeda (16-6) vs. Razhabali Shaidulloev (9-0); RIZIN 47, June 9

Andrei Arlovski (34-23) vs. Martin Buday (13-2); UFC 303, June 29

Brian Kelleher (24-15) vs. Cody Gibson (19-10); UFC Vegas 94, July 20

Amanda Lemos (14-3-1) vs. Virna Jandiroba (20-3); UFC Vegas 94, July 20

FINAL THOUGHTS

I have a 1 on the interest scale down below simply because Jones vs. Miocic is a fight, and every single fight is always going to get a 1 at the lowest from me because it’s a fight. Other than that, I couldn’t be any more over the insistence of just the idea of that matchup. It. Has. Expired.

Thanks for reading!

POLL POSITION

Last Week’s Results:

Friday: 82% of 303 total votes answered “Derrick Lewis” when asked, “Who wins at UFC St. Louis?” Lewis defeated Rodrigo Nascimento via third-round TKO (punches) at 0:49.

Thursday: 48% of 406 total votes answered “No” when asked, “Does Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson being a professionally sanctioned boxing match make you more interested in it?”

Wednesday: 75% of 433 total votes answered “Conor McGregor” when asked, “Who would win in a lightweight fight?”

Tuesday: 54% of 669 total votes answered “Tom Aspinall” when asked, “What is the bigger fight for Jon Jones?”

Monday: 49% of 459 total votes answered “Depends on the matchup” when asked, “Do you want to see the flyweight title headline more UFC PPVs?”

Today’s exit poll:

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