One of the greatest fighters in MMA history returns on Saturday night as Jon Jones defends his heavyweight championship against two-time former champion Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 309. Jones is making the first defense of the title he won with a first-round submission of Cyril Gane at UFC 285 in March of 2023.

Jones has cooled on the idea of fighting his next challenger, should he defeat Miocic. British fighter Tom Aspinall has held down the division as interim heavyweight champion — a title necessitated by Jones’ lengthy absence — and has been chirping for months about a unification bout.

So much talk follows a Jon Jones fight that it’s almost possible to forget he will actually step into the Octagon against Stipe Miocic in the early hours of Sunday morning at New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden (1am, TNT Sports 1 and Discovery +).