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Stipe Miocic seems to have his mind all made up about who the baddest man on the planet is.
The 42-year-old Miocic finally retired from MMA last November, meeting his match with a heavyweight Jon Jones, losing by brutal third-round TKO. Even before the fight, Miocic had already cemented his legacy as one of, if not the, greatest heavyweight in MMA history.
Miocic recorded 3 consecutive title defenses, one over Francis Ngannou – the current PFL Super Fights Heavyweight Champion. Ngannou might not wear the UFC letters on his gloves anymore, but the famed knockout artist from Cameroon is still revered as the world’s best heavyweight today – at least, in the eyes of Miocic.
“I mean, I’d go Francis [over Jon Jones] just ’cause he is tearing it up, he’s doing great with his boxing. I go Francis,” Miocic told The Schmo.
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In his time in the UFC, Ngannou ran through the heavyweight division, one of his two losses to Stipe Miocic in 2018. Ngannou later avenged the decision loss with a second-round TKO of Miocic to win the heavyweight title back in 2021.
Ngannou entered free agency in 2023, departing from the UFC for a multi-million dollar future in boxing and the PFL, where he secured two paydays against Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury and a heavyweight title against Renan Ferreira in his MMA return last October.
Jon Jones never reached the climax of a Francis Ngannou superfight, “Bones” requesting more money to fight and time off after relinquishing his light heavyweight strap in 2020.
While Jones is 2-0 as a heavyweight with his wins over Ciryl Gane and Stipe Miocic, it’s hard to not to recognize the legendary light heavyweight fighter as the absolute best in the business with his insane body of work. Though, you could say the same about the mighty Ngannou, whose raw power sets him apart on planet Earth.
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Unfortunately, we’ll likely never see Francis Ngannou’s ‘touch of death’ get put to the test versus the five-star game of Jon Jones – the world’s best heavyweights promotions apart.
We’d mention interim champion Tom Aspinall in the conversation as well, but the Brit wasn’t included in the dichotomous question.
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