Issue 211

November 2024

This strike stands in all its flesh-puncturing glory as a career-ending kick. Jon Jones came to reassert his dominance as the GOAT by delivering a blow so precise it may as well have been designed in a physics lab. For Stipe Miocic, it was a brutal punctuation mark on Jones’s once-in-a-generation career. By the third round, Miocic’s fate was approaching a foregone conclusion, as Jones creatively finished the fight as an emphatic reminder of what separates him from the rest. After dissecting Miocic with numerous body kicks, elbows, and perfectly timed jabs, Jones was a prized stallion who scented the victory in the air with a tickle at the back of the nostril. Here, he closed the show with the spinning back kick that sent Miocic crashing to the canvas. As Miocic crumpled, clutching his midsection, it was clear that Jones had exposed the Achilles heel of one of the toughest heavyweights in UFC history. He’d turned technique and athleticism into art. UFC 309 was just another fight where Jon Jones had all but put on the high-vis and gone to work then walked away as a favorite of sports fans of every pronoun. 

November 16, 2024

UFC 309, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY