Jon Jones confuses Stipe Miocic with six-word threat in first UFC 309 face-off after refusing hand shake

The feud between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic appears to be finally heating up, even if it's a one-sided battle for now.

Despite nearly two years of build-up, there seemed to be minimal tension between Jones and Miocic ahead of their UFC 309 main event showdown. But it appears the heavyweight champion has created some sort of personal beef as the days tick down towards their meeting.

And he took it to a new level on Thursday night in New York, when the pair finally faced off for the first time since agreeing to fight early last year. The two-time former champion reached out for the photo, but Jones had other ideas and declined.

Jon Jones claims Stipe Miocic mentioned his children during the build-up to a fight

After an intense press conference Thursday night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic were finally able to come face to face. The pair had been looking for a fight for years, but this was their first official confrontation, just days after their actual fight.

For fights where the competitors haven't had much of an argument, it's generally just a photo op when they face each other. However, Jones didn't see it that way and refused to accept his rival's offer for a handshake when they faced off.

But perhaps an even more bizarre moment came when Jones told him, “Don't ever talk about my kids again.” The Cleveland native seemed completely taken aback by the veiled threat and quickly confirmed that “I never talked about your kids,” as Jones turned away.

Jon Jones has built a one-sided feud with Stipe Miocic ahead of UFC 309

This attempt to build some bad blood between the pair has seemingly been a futile effort by Jones. It started when he claimed Miocic tried to imitate his fighting style by involving black fighters in a bizarre social media post.

And it continued when he chose to take offense at an offhand comment the former champion made during their UFC Countdown documentary. Miocic, in a light-hearted moment, told Jones, “Bring it on, b****,” which apparently made the former light-heavyweight star very angry.

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC

“Hiring black fighters to imitate me won't help you, Stipe,” Jones wrote in a bizarre post on his X account, formerly Twitter. “And you shouldn't have called me ab****, the disrespect wasn't necessary. Let's play.”

He later explained that to the UFC Embedded cameras, telling them: “So I'm watching the Countdown with some friends, teammates and family. I thought it went very well, I thought we represented ourselves well as gentlemen and very experienced martial artists.

“Then at the end Stipe says 'bring it on b****'. Come on, damn? I didn't think that was necessary. This is the fighting game, if he thinks I'm a *** he has to back it up, that's a lot of pressure. So we'll see who the bastard is.”

Stipe Miocic called Jon Jones' efforts to build rivalry 'comical'

However, none of this seems to have gotten to Miocic, a famously affable and personable fighter. The fight will be his first since being viciously knocked out by Francis Ngannou to lose the title in 2021, and he is a big underdog after more than three years out of action.

And it doesn't seem like he's paying much attention to what Jones does to make the fight personal. He told the press at yesterday's media day: 'I'll keep talking about that.

“He literally told everyone he was going to beat me. I'm almost positive. Didn't he say that before? [the b**** comment was made]? Sorry. Talk about me, but whatever.

As for the racial aspect, Miocic noted that the sparring partners he was referring to are his regular teammates, and they don't even get paid to be in his camp: “That was bulls*** because they are my teammates. They say, 'Aren't we getting paid?' Apparently I'm hiring too. Whatever.”

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