Stipe Miocic Disputes Criticism That He’s Holding Up Heavyweight Division

Miocic was originally scheduled to challenge Jon Jones for the heavyweight title at UFC 295 in November 2023 before “Bones” pulled out of the event due to an injury. A last-minute interim title fight between Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich was booked to help save the card, and Aspinall knocked out his Russian foe in the opening stanza.

With no timeline in sight for Jones’ return, Aspinall initially called for the champ to be stripped off his title. While Aspinall later called for a title unification clash against Jones, “Bones” remains adamant on fighting Miocic when he returns. Both Miocic and Jones have hinted that they might ride off into the sunset after their potential fight, robbing Aspinall of the chance to fighting “Bones” for undisputed gold. Meanwhile, Aspinall is now slated to defend his interim strap against Curtis Blaydes in the co-main event of UFC 304 in Manchester this weekend.

Miocic has not fought in more than three years and has recently received criticism for holding up the division. While Miocic understands Aspinall’s point of view, he explains that his only demand to the UFC is to fight Jones when he is ready to return. However, Miocic notes that the final call in the making of the fight is the UFC’s and not his.

“I get it. I'd feel the same way but I'm not taking anything away from him,” Miocic told Shakiel Mahjouri. “The UFC can do what they want. It is what it is. There's only one guy I want to fight — it's Jon Jones. But at the same time, the UFC can pick who they want to pick. People don’t notice that there were a couple of times when I was ready to fight him and they gave it to another guy. What am I supposed to do? I'm not holding up the division like everyone says. I don't care. Do what you want and stop crying. I'm not saying he's crying. I'm just saying like fans and stuff like that.”

Reference: https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Stipe-Miocic-Disputes-Criticism-That-Hes-Holding-Up-Heavyweight-Division-194407