Stipe Miocic relishes being underestimated against Jon Jones.
Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) is expected to get the next shot at newly crowned heavyweight champion Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC), and has opened up as a +290 underdog for their fight.
A former two-time UFC heavyweight champ, Miocic holds the record for most title defenses in the promotion’s history at three. But with Jones having never lost in the octagon, oddsmakers are favoring him to beat Miocic.
“Hell yeah it does (motivate me),” Miocic told TMZ. “I love being the underdog, I love being told something is not gonna happen because I’m the guy that puts a big dagger in that.”
Jones quickly submitted Ciryl Gane in this past Saturday’s UFC 285 headliner to claim the vacant heavyweight belt. It took the former light heavyweight champ just over two minutes to get the finish, which made it tough for Miocic to gauge his performance.
“He won, good for him,” Miocic said. “That’s about it. It didn’t last long so I can’t really say much, but he got the win. That’s all that matters, and the finish.”
He continued, “I don’t really have much to say because it wasn’t that long of a fight.”
Miocic, 40, is already widely considered the greatest heavyweight of all time. A win over Jones would further solidify that, but Miocic isn’t ready to put an end date for his career just yet.
“I don’t know,” Miocic said. “We’ll see. I think about retiring after every fight since my first one. We’ll see. Right now just gonna keep getting better, getting stronger, make myself finally tuned ready for that fight in July.”
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