Former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier believes a Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic fight will end one of two ways.
Cormier has fought both Jones and Miocic multiple times before—Jones twice and Miocic on three occasions—and is therefore uniquely positioned to weigh in a potential fight between them. That potential fight suddenly seems quite likely, after Jones vacated the UFC light heavyweight title with ambitions to steal the heavyweight strap from Miocic.
If it does happen, Cormier believes it will be competitive. However, he believes Miocic is more likely to win by knockout, and Jones is more likely to win by decision.
“Jones won’t knock him out,” Cormier said on ESPN’s DC & Helwani show (via Bloody Elbow). “Jones won’t punch him and put him to sleep. It doesn’t matter what he weighs, he does not have that punching power. He doesn’t hit very hard. Kicks hard, but he doesn’t punch very hard.
“(Stipe) knows that if he goes and fights Jones — which would be very competitive, very good fight — it would be either him knocking Jones out, or it would be a decision. Because Jones won’t knock him out.”
While Cormier doesn’t believe Jones will have much in the way of knockout power in the heavyweight division, he does expect his long-time rival to perform well in the division.
“If you have that skillset, the skillset that Jon Jones has, doesn’t matter what weight class,” Cormier said. “He will be able to compete. That’s a fact. You can love him, you can hate him, but that’s a fact. 185, Jon Jones can compete. 205, Jon Jones can compete. 265, or whatever the weight is at heavyweight, Jon Jones can compete.
“He will compete against anybody. So for him to go to heavyweight, I don’t know if it’s as risky as people are trying to make it seem. He can fight those guys because I fought those guys. They’re big, they’re strong, they’re dangerous. But he can fight those guys.”
What do you think of this breakdown from Daniel Cormier?