- Henry Cejudo wants Jon Jones to prepare for Stipe Miocic’s exceptional wrestling
- “Triple C” thinks the only for Miocic to beat Jones is by also utilizing his wrestling skills
After proving that his ground game is still exceptional by submitting Ciryl Gane at UFC 285, Jon Jones is confident he could take out Stipe Miocic next in a battle for GOAT status. However, Henry Cejudo thinks “Bones” should not get too excited.
Stipe is the real deal
Previewing the looming UFC heavyweight title fight, Cejudo pointed out that Jones should be well-prepared because, unlike other heavyweights, Miocic has a proven track record in wrestling.
“This time around the fight the styles, the game plan, is different because this guy did wrestle at Brown University, this guy is a real wrestler that has real wrestling,” Cejudo said,
Jon also needs to wrestle
As for how the Miocic could possibly get the job done, “Triple C” emphasized that he has to watch out for Jones’ “bag of tricks” and he has no choice but to rely solely on his wrestling again.
“I love the fight and I think there’s one thing that we all have to understand that Jon Jones is just a bag of tricks. I mean how do you describe his style? Creativity. You don’t know what’s going to come out. You don’t know if he’s gonna take a shot come in with that right elbow, you don’t know if he’s gonna fake a shot coming with the flying knee or you don’t know if he’s going to take you down. This is what makes Jon Jones extremely special his ability, his ability and the fact that he’s able to mix things up,” Cejudo assessed.
“Now, let’s get to Stipe Miocic… What would be his game plan to fight a guy like Jon Jones? I’m thinking I’m looking at this fight right now and I’m just thinking how do you beat Jon Jones? You’re gonna have to wrestle. So, that’s the only thing that I could see Stipe Miocic doing because his hands are not faster than Jon, he’s got hands, he did get a chance to stop uh [Daniel] Cormier with the body shot [but] Jon’s just different. Jon has a different length, Jon recognizes distance a lot better than somebody like DC,” he continued.
The feeling is mutual and it seems very likely that Jones vs. Miocic will take place sooner rather than later. Jones thinks that it’s the fight that matters most for his case of becoming the GOAT of MMA, while Miocic looks at it as “just icing on a cake.”
As for Cejudo, he is set for a title fight of his own at UFC 288 against reigning bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling.