Former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen isn’t buying into Jon Jones’ theory on the training footage recently released by heavyweight legend Stipe Miocic.
Jones and Miocic are expected to collide toward the end of 2024 with the former’s heavyweight belt on the line. They were originally set to do battle last November at Madison Square Garden but an injury to the champion forced a change of plans.
Since then, the topic of discussion has been the debate over Jones and the UFC’s insistence on keeping the Miocic matchup together over a unification showdown between “Bones” and interim titleholder Tom Aspinall.
The backlash to the decision not to have the two champs square off only increased upon the release of some recent training footage from Miocic.
But while many expressed concern over what they perceived to be a clear decline in speed from the divisional legend, who has not competed in over three years, Jones theorized that Miocic may have been attempting to instil a false sense of confidence into him.
A former opponent of the reigning champ’s, however, has dismissed that take and put forth an alternative suggestion…
Sonnen Doubts Miocic Is ‘Trying To Dupe’ Jones
During a video recently uploaded to his YouTube channel, Sonnen assessed the brief clip Miocic posted online, as well as Jones’ comments on it.
“The Bad Guy” dismissed the idea that Miocic may have been attempting to deceive the champ, claiming there isn’t a single fighter who would willingly release footage that shows their ability in a negative light.
Instead, Sonnen believes the explanation is more simple — Miocic just wasn’t competing an explosive training drill.
“Jon Jones isn’t buying what Stipe Miocic is selling as legit training footage on Instagram,” Sonnen said. “Stipe looks a little bit slow… But I didn’t interpret it as he was going full out. I interpreted that he was working on technique… Jon Jones is talking about, ‘Hey man, he’s trying to deceive me, he’s trying to fool me. He looked slow in that video but he wants me to see that. He wants me to see that he’s slowed down so that I can build (a false sense of) confidence.’
“One thing that I have learned… There is no scenario that I could imagine that Jon could make the video and/or have the decision over said video to be posted to the world or not, and Jon, whether for delusion or strategy, would allow anyone to put a video out that he did not think made him look good,” Sonnen continued. “I don’t think Stipe was trying to dupe anybody… I don’t know a fighter whose little fragile ego would allow a video to go out where they perhaps could be perceived as anything not positive. I don’t know a single fighter whose ego is strong enough to allow a video to go out on social media that made them look anything other than superhuman.”
As he begins preparation for his return to action, Jones looks set to be answering plenty of questions regarding his decision to focus on Miocic and dismiss his division’s interim champion.
“Bones” has frequently addressed the backlash and defended his preference online, and he’s even chose to mock the interim title bout between Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes set for UFC 304 this coming July in Manchester, England.
Oh the irony. https://t.co/NEKvvzLQt7
— BONY (@JonnyBones) May 26, 2024
