Jon Jones upset with Stipe Miocic calling him a ‘b*tch’ in UFC 309 video

Jon Jones is gearing up for fight week.

The heavyweight champion is days away from defending his title against Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 309 on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York, and he’s tuning in to the card’s pre-fight programming. In particular, Jones took umbrage with Miocic’s choice of words from the recent UFC Countdown program.

“Bring it on, b*tch,” Miocic said on the show.

Jones responded to the clip via an Instagram Story and on Twitter, which can be seen below (h/t Happy Punch).

“Hiring black fighters to mimic me will not help you, Stipe,” Jones wrote. “And you shouldn’t have called me a bitch, the disrespect wasn’t necessary. Let’s play.”

For the most part, the rivalry between Jones and Miocic had been respectful prior to this exchange. Jones has often touted his respect for Miocic, the record holder for the most successful defenses (4) of the UFC heavyweight title. The two were first booked to fight at UFC 295 in December 2023, but a pectoral injury forced Jones out of that matchup and put him on the sidelines for several months.

In Jones’ absence, British heavyweight Tom Aspinall defeated Sergei Pavlovich for an interim title and has successfully defended it once, defeating Curtis Blaydes this past July. Aspinall has repeatedly expressed interest in unifying the titles, though Jones’ sights have been locked exclusively on Miocic.

Jones’ refusal to acknowledge Aspinall—the No. 1 heavyweight in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings—as the true contender for his title has ruffled more than a few feathers in the MMA community, with the all-time great being accused of “ducking” Aspinall.

After responding to Miocic, Jones fired off another series of tweets responding to his critics, including top light heavyweight contender Magomed Ankalaev, who also mocked Jones for not fighting Aspinall.

“Magomed, jealousy won’t earn you legend status, my friend,” Jones wrote. “Train harder, hate less. Want to truly insult me? Break some of my records first. Let’s get started.”

Ankalaev then posted a tweet poking fun at Jones’ history of drug test failures. During Jones’ legendary run as light heavyweight king from 2011-2020, he put together arguably the most impressive résumé in MMA history, defeating a litany of former world champions and elite challengers. However, a pair of drug tests serve to blemish his reputation, one that cost him in an interim title in 2016 and another that caused a championship win over Daniel Cormier in 2017 to be overturned to a no-contest.

See more of Jones’ tweet storm as he responded to fans below.