did his job on Saturday night by completely dominating and fended him off with a fierce backward kick to the body in the third round Main event. But did Jones deserve so much recognition considering Miocic had been inactive for nearly four years and, at 42, might not have been the same fighter who captured the UFC's heavyweight division twice?
That's the UFC legend's argument took a look back at the fight, because as much as Jones put in a top-notch performance, he wasn't exactly facing the Miocic who was knocking out his opponents And in the past.
“As bad as he looked athletically – he also looked his age – I say he looked beyond his years, to be honest,” Brown said of Miocic on the latest episode of The fighter against the writer. “Straight legs, no hate on Stipe. It just seemed like he didn't have it at that point, and why would he? He challenged himself at the highest level with the best of all time and failed the challenge.
“It might be a little controversial, but to me it almost takes away from Jon Jones. I mean, he beat him almost flawlessly. I gave Stipe the second round, but it wasn't like a teardown or anything. It was almost flawless for Jon Jones, but I wasn’t surprised that Jon Jones beat that version of Stipe.”
While Miocic found a way to hang in there after a one-sided opening round in which he was on his back and Jones was throwing bombs at him from above, the Ohio native just never really got any offense going during the fight.
According to the reports, Miocic appeared much slower than Jones during all exchanges and his reaction time simply appeared to be worse compared to that of the heavyweight star of the past.
“To me, Stipe looked like he didn’t really want to be there,” Brown said. “He’s there for the challenge and maybe the money. I don't know exactly what his motivations were. But to me it didn’t look like he really wanted to be there.”
Now Brown admits that Miocic's demeanor may have changed dramatically after he took a lot of punishment from Jones in the first round, and that he simply never recovered from it.
But he also acknowledged that Miocic clearly didn't look like himself and wasted no time after the fight was over in announcing his retirement from the sport.
“Maybe that was Jon too. Maybe I’m taking too much away from Jon,” Brown explained. “Maybe Stipe was energetic and motivated, and as soon as Jon threw the first punch he said, 'Okay, maybe I don't actually want to do this.'
“Maybe we should give Jon more credit there, but to me it just looked like Stipe just didn't want to be there. He simply wasn't present at the moment. He didn't have that fire under his ass. He was just like, 'If I hit you, I'll hit you, if I don't, I won't hit you.' So it just felt emotional to me.”
There's no way to say for sure what led to Miocic's performance on Saturday, but the simplest answer involves his time off between fights and his age.
That's why Brown is hesitant to praise Jones too much for getting the job done the way he did Saturday.
“As far as fight IQ goes, it was an absolutely insane performance,” Brown said of Jones. “My tip was athleticism – I don't know if that's because Jon is so much more Athletic than everyone else, or if Stipe actually declined so much because Jon could do that to a lot of people who are in their prime .” ”
Regardless of the outcome, Jones successfully defended his heavyweight title and continues to be considered arguably the greatest fighter of all time. Brown says that fact hasn't changed just because he faced Miocic past his prime.
“Jon has cemented his legacy,” Brown said. “He is the greatest of all time. Nobody will discuss this for a long time, except this [performance-enhancing drug use] allegations. That's the argument against Jon. There is actually no further argument against Jon. He is the greatest of all time.
“As long as he stays undefeated, it doesn’t matter who he fights – and he knows that – it doesn’t matter who he fights, if he stays undefeated, he will remain the GOAT.”
