Stipe Miocic makes his long awaited return to the Octagon this Saturday night after his planned return was pushed back a year.
The greatest heavyweight in UFC history was set to challenge Jon Jones for the heavyweight title at UFC 295 until an injury to Jones' pushed the fight back a year.
Fight week is finally upon us but the road to UFC 309 has led to a lot of talk about whether this fight should be next and how Miocic will look after not fighting for over three years.
During a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, he welcomed the doubters because in his opinion, this is nothing new for him:
"Whatever, I mean listen it's been like that my whole career. I always get people s*** on me, I'm used to it by now. I don't know, I don't really care honestly.
"I always use it man, I use that fuel. Keep talking s*** about me, keep dogging me, I use it as fire. It fires me up every time."
The legacy fight between two of the UFC's greatest champions at Madison Square Garden has been a respectful affair between the two men.
That was until a quote from Miocic on the UFC 309 Countdown preview appeared to frustrate Jones who replied on social media to his opponent saying "bring it on b****."
Miocic responded to this during the interview, stating that it wasn't his intention to disrespect a fighter that he regards very highly.
"Oh yeah, I was just, he was talking to me, I was talking to him, bring it on. I don't know, I'm sorry if I hurt his feelings, just fired up you know. Okay, I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to disrespect him in anyway."
If the doubters are wrong and the time away from the Octagon hasn't set Miocic back too far, the main event this Saturday night could get very interesting.
For the former two-time heavyweight champion, his one and only focus is being the first man to defeat Jones and that's all he sees when he closes his eyes and thinks about the fight.
"Me winning and walking out with the belt around my waist, and new."
Watch the full interview below:
