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All of the UFC 309 fighters competing in the main and co-main events are set to wear custom fight shorts from the promotion’s exclusive apparel partner at Venum.

UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ shorts were previously revealed with a design that included the same bible verse he has tattooed on his chest.

As for his opponent, Stipe Miocic, is wearing a relatively generic pair of shorts by comparison with a black and grey design featuring the crest from the flag of Croatia — the home country to his parents before relocating to Cleveland, Ohio. Miocic hasn’t exactly been all about flash and flare during his career so keeping things simple seem to line up with his general ethos when it comes to his fight week preparation.

Meanwhile, former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira definitely looked for an explosion of color on his fight shorts with a very loud design featuring his nickname “Do Bronx” down the side. The blue, red and yellow shorts give Oliveira a contrasting look when compared to his opponent Michael Chandler, who went for something similar to what Miocic is wearing on Saturday night.

Chandler’s shorts also feature a basic black and grey design but his are adorned with the stars and stripes signifying the United States.

The UFC has been working with Venum to create custom fight shorts for athletes involved in some of the biggest fights in the sport with UFC 309 being no exception.

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Jake Paul believes a knockout win of Mike Tyson is fated to happen.

That’s how confident Paul is ahead of his clash with the boxing legend, which takes place this Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and airs live on Netflix. Paul has made a name for himself as a boxer after previously rising to fame as a YouTuber and social media influencer, and meets his most accomplished opponent yet in the 58-year-old Tyson.

“Iron Mike” fights in his first sanctioned bout since 2015 (and makes his first in-ring appearance since a 2020 exhibition bout against Roy Jones Jr.). In his prime, Tyson was revered for his knockout power that earned him multiple world titles and made him one of sport’s most famous figures.

Ahead of the Nov. 15 event, Paul and Tyson sat down for a face-to-face interview on YouTube, and Paul waxed poetic on how it would feel to KO Tyson.

“When it happens, it’s going to be a little bittersweet because I have love for him, but at the current moment, we’re meant to go to war,” Paul said. “He’s trying to take the food off my plate, I’m trying to take the food off of his plate and that’s what warriors do. But for me, I’ve dream this, manifested it, and it will be the start of what has been a 12-year career for me in entertainment and acting and working and all the things I’ve done now into boxing, this is finally my moment and my time to shine and I’m going to show the world who the f*ck I am.

“Because everyone’s doubted me, everyone’s had something something to say. Nothing was ever given to me. I’ve had to work for it all. Suppressed by everyone. Kicked off of YouTube. Kicked off of platforms. Canceled five times and here I am throwing the biggest event in really all of entertainment actually and now it shows to the rest of the world what hard work and perseverance can do and I’m just happy to be able to show that to other kids who maybe have to go through adversity and have to fight and have to keep on proving themselves time and time again.”

Asked if he was confident that he would put Tyson down for the count, Paul didn’t waver: “It’s already written.”

“This is the baddest man on the planet,” Paul added. “Heavyweight. Just look at the f*cking guy sitting here right now. He’s an animal. He posts Instagram pictures and I get a little scared because of how good he looks, but I have to step up to this level and show people that I can accomplish the impossible and that’s what the story of Jake Paul is about.”

Tyson was then asked how a loss to Paul would affect his legacy, which led to the following exchange:

Tyson: “I don’t look at my life as a legacy. Legacy to me means ego. Who the f*ck cares about my legacy? I’m going to be dead soon one day. But he’s not going to win.”

Paul: “It would be the biggest moment in all of boxing history on Friday night when I put this man to sleep, so that is pretty dope.”

Tyson: “He dreams a lot. This is not going to come true, young man.”

Paul: “I respect your opinion, but it’s just my time. The universe knows it, the gods know it, and you’re going to know it.”

Despite his bravado, Paul admitted he’s concerned about how the fight could unfold Friday. Of Tyson’s 50 pro wins, 44 came by way of knockout, with many still being replayed to this day due to the level of violence and viciousness involved.

Paul doesn’t want to get hit, but he’s ready for it.

“I have to be alert,” Paul said. “This is a scary, scary man. He’s a killer and has all the power still clearly in all the videos, all the sparring that he’s showing dropping his sparring partners.

“My mom is messaging, she can’t even watch Tyson punch. She won’t watch it because it scares her. He has one of the deadliest uppercuts of all time, so of course I have to be ready and know that he’s going to have some moments in there and I’m going to have to persevere.”

In what will likely be Tyson’s last fight, the boxing legend is seeing it as more than just a farewell party. He plans to go out on top, something he didn’t get to do when he lost to Kevin McBride in June 2005.

In Tyson’s mind, he’s certain that millions of fans will get the chance to see his hand raised one more time.

“I’m not going to lose, so I can’t even fathom losing,” Tyson said. “I can’t even imagine it. He’s not going to win. I think he thinks this is going to be a very easy night. It’s not going to be an easy night for you.”

“I don’t think that,” Paul replied. “I think it’s going to be a war. A war of ages. The fans are the ones who win out of this, but I know you, I know your soul on a deeper level, and I know myself and I know you’re not going to f*cking quit and neither am I. You could rip my head off. I can go down to the canvas. You can f*ck me up, I could be bleeding from everywhere, and I’m not going to stop, and I know that’s the same for you. That’s the beauty of this, I don’t think it’s going to be easy. I know it’s going to be hard.”

Watch the full Face 2 Face video below.

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Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic will finally battle for the UFC heavyweight championship in the main event of UFC 309 in New York City — a fight the MMA community is excited to get to so the division can move forward.

Watch MMA Fighting’s UFC 309 Timeline video for an in-depth look at how both headliners got to this weekend’s pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden.

Jones defends the heavyweight title for the first time since capturing the championship nearly two years ago with a quick submission win over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285. “Bones” is a former, multi-time light heavyweight champion, and his run at 205-pounds, the ups and the downs — both in and out of the octagon — are featured in the story to Saturday’s main event.

Miocic’s layoff is twice as long, as he returns to the octagon after getting brutally knocked out by Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 almost four years ago. The 42-year-old will compete against a fighter not named Ngannou or Daniel Cormier for the first time since stopping Junior dos Santos at UFC 2011 in May 2017.

Will the winner of the UFC 309 main event face interim champ Tom Aspinall to unify the titles? Will it be the final octagon walk for Jones and Miocic?

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Jon Jones is gearing up for fight week.

The heavyweight champion is days away from defending his title against Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 309 on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York, and he’s tuning in to the card’s pre-fight programming. In particular, Jones took umbrage with Miocic’s choice of words from the recent UFC Countdown program.

“Bring it on, b*tch,” Miocic said on the show.

Jones responded to the clip via an Instagram Story and on Twitter, which can be seen below (h/t Happy Punch).

“Hiring black fighters to mimic me will not help you, Stipe,” Jones wrote. “And you shouldn’t have called me a bitch, the disrespect wasn’t necessary. Let’s play.”

For the most part, the rivalry between Jones and Miocic had been respectful prior to this exchange. Jones has often touted his respect for Miocic, the record holder for the most successful defenses (4) of the UFC heavyweight title. The two were first booked to fight at UFC 295 in December 2023, but a pectoral injury forced Jones out of that matchup and put him on the sidelines for several months.

In Jones’ absence, British heavyweight Tom Aspinall defeated Sergei Pavlovich for an interim title and has successfully defended it once, defeating Curtis Blaydes this past July. Aspinall has repeatedly expressed interest in unifying the titles, though Jones’ sights have been locked exclusively on Miocic.

Jones’ refusal to acknowledge Aspinall—the No. 1 heavyweight in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings—as the true contender for his title has ruffled more than a few feathers in the MMA community, with the all-time great being accused of “ducking” Aspinall.

After responding to Miocic, Jones fired off another series of tweets responding to his critics, including top light heavyweight contender Magomed Ankalaev, who also mocked Jones for not fighting Aspinall.

“Magomed, jealousy won’t earn you legend status, my friend,” Jones wrote. “Train harder, hate less. Want to truly insult me? Break some of my records first. Let’s get started.”

Ankalaev then posted a tweet poking fun at Jones’ history of drug test failures. During Jones’ legendary run as light heavyweight king from 2011-2020, he put together arguably the most impressive résumé in MMA history, defeating a litany of former world champions and elite challengers. However, a pair of drug tests serve to blemish his reputation, one that cost him in an interim title in 2016 and another that caused a championship win over Daniel Cormier in 2017 to be overturned to a no-contest.

See more of Jones’ tweet storm as he responded to fans below.

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Think you can figure out which UFC fighter we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out.

We’re back for another day of the SB Nation UFC in-5 daily trivia game, and we’re switching to a system of a new article each day for the game.

We tried using a single article for the game, updated with the latest game each day, but it was creating a bit of an unwieldy experience in the comments. So, we’ll have the current day’s game plus the previous three days in each new article. That way, you can catch up if you miss a day.

Game instructions are at the bottom if you’re new to the game!

What we need from you

1. Play the game
2. Share your result in the comments and on social media
3. Provide feedback (Google Form or in comments below)

Today’s UFC in-5 game

Sunday’s UFC in-5 game

Saturday’s UFC in-5 game

Friday’s UFC in-5 game

The goal of the game is to guess the correct random UFC fighter player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED FIGHTERS. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it. It will be a mix of well-known players and some “that guys” that we haven’t thought of in some time. The game will appear in slot #3 of the MMA Fighting layout each morning, with occasional movement later in the day.

After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media.

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It’s safe to say Reinier de Ridder is happier now that he’s found a home in the UFC.

Despite claiming titles in two different weight classes in ONE Championship, “The Dutch Knight” endured a contentious split with his former employers and he doesn’t have much nice to say about them now. While he’s largely avoided the subject since leaving ONE and signing with the UFC, de Ridder finally addressed the Singapore based promotion by sending a harsh warning to any fighters who are considering going there.

“This is something I feel I have to do for other fighters — if you’re thinking of signing with ONE Championship, don’t,” de Ridder said at the UFC Vegas 100 post-fight press conference. “It’s that simple. You should not. There’s nothing there. There’s no fights. You’re just wrong if you do this, if you sign there, this is a bad mistake.”

The former light heavyweight and middleweight champion didn’t get into many details about his disdain towards ONE but at least one major problem came down to activity.

Following three fights in 2022, de Ridder didn’t compete at all during 2023 outside of a grappling match against Tye Ruotolo. He finally returned to action in early 2024 but a loss to Anatoly Malykhin marked the end of his run with ONE Championship before de Ridder competed a single time in UAE Warriors prior to signing with the UFC.

“It’s been a bad couple of years,” de Ridder said. “The stress I’ve been put through. The stress my family’s been put through. To even just get fights, it hasn’t been nice. It’s hard for me to talk bad because I had a couple of good years at ONE as well. In the beginning, they treated me well. Over the past couple of years, it’s been really bad.”

If there was one aspect about ONE Championship that he missed, de Ridder admitted the post-fight celebrations where glitter falls from the ceiling to end a show was a nice touch but that sounds like the only thing he’s not getting compared to his new home in the UFC.

“[I miss it] a bit yeah,” de Ridder said about the colorful post-fight celebrations. “It would have been nice, it looks cool. But everything else [in ONE Championship] is shit.”

While the ill feelings towards ONE clearly still exist, de Ridder has moved on with his career, especially after he tapped out all-time submissions leader Gerald Meerschart in the third round at UFC Vegas 100.

Taking on another grappler and a fighter he’s trained with in the past gave de Ridder some new obstacles to overcome but the end result is what matters most.

“On the floor, I made a few mistakes, especially in the second round,” de Ridder explained. “I shouldn’t have went for those [D’arce chokes], I thought I had them but they weren’t there. There’s a few little tweaks I should make there.

“But I’m happy it happened this way, the fight happened this way. Because normally he’s the guy who lasts longer, he takes some shots and he’s still there and he finishes guys at the end of the second or in the third round. So it’s cool I was that guy this time.”

With the win, de Ridder immediately becomes a name to watch in the middleweight division but he’s obviously not trying to take things slow and easy now that he’s in the UFC.

When asked about potential opponents, de Ridder didn’t blink when calling for a showdown against arguably the 185-pound boogeyman.

“Why not Khamzat [Chimaev]?” de Ridder said. “That would be a nice matchup, grappling wise, it would be cool.”’

Whether it’s Khamzat Chimaev or somebody else, de Ridder is just happy to keep his calendar full thanks to the UFC.

“Whatever the UFC wants of me, I’ll do it,” de Ridder said. “Just give me a call. I’m ready.”

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Daniel Cormier doesn’t necessarily agree with his former foe Jon Jones when it comes to his reasoning to pass on a potential fight against Tom Aspinall but that doesn’t mean anybody is running scared.

In the days leading up to his heavyweight title defense against Stipe Miocic in the UFC 309 main event, Jones revealed that he has no interest in facing Aspinall as the interim champion but if he chooses to fight again, light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira might be worth his time. For his part, Cormier understands why Pereira is the preferrable matchup over Aspinall but he doesn’t buy that Jones is terrified of any opponent he could face in the octagon.

“Jon Jones isn’t afraid of Tom Aspinall,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “I wish people would stop saying that. He is not afraid of that guy. He’s not afraid of anyone. He’s not afraid to fight this guy. He’s not.

“I think he’s trying to be more strategic I think he’s trying to make sure his legacy stands. I don’t know how it could ever be faded. I mean we do have short memories but could you ever forget what he did? I don’t think fighting Tom Aspinall with the potential that he would lose is a bad thing. But as most would expect him to win the fight.”

In terms of attention and selling pay-per-views, Cormier totally understands why Jones would rather face Pereira over Aspinall but he also believes there’s another reason why that particular fight holds more weight with the reigning UFC heavyweight champion.

“Yes, financially it would make sense,” Cormier explained. “It would [also] be much less risky because of that glaring hole in the matchup. I don’t know if Alex Pereira can defend takedowns against the best guys. He’s wrestling Glover [Texeira], I’m sure Glover’s teaching him how to defend takedowns. I’m sure Glover, who’s a tremendous wrestler himself, has him prepared but I don’t know how he will do in live action against a truly elite [high level] wrestler. Because Jan Blachowicz isn’t and he was able to take him down effectively.

“So yeah, Jon would prefer that matchup because it’s much less risky than fighting Tom Aspinall. Financially, he does have a point. That is the biggest money fight for him with the less risk because people now know Pereira.”

Where Cormier splits from Jones is when he stopped just short of calling Aspinall a “nobody” and added that the British born heavyweight just hasn’t beaten anybody worthwhile to get his attention. Jones stated that he was done risking his legacy against up and coming fighters trying to build a name off of him.

As much as Jones protested about Aspinall’s resume, Cormier says the argument falls short because he’s not just taking on some random contender in the division. Jones would be facing the interim champion and Aspinall’s accomplishments to earn that belt can’t be ignored.

“[Mauricio] ‘Shogun’ [Rua] had to fight Jon Jones back in the day,” Cormier said. “‘Rampage’ [Quinton Jackson] had to fight Jon Jones back in the day. Those guys were big names that fought him as the young guy that was a champion and he made a name off of all those legends. So that by the time that I got to him, he was a legend. Already in 2015, 2016, he was already a legend in fighting years but that was only because he had beaten all those great guys before. It really is the tale of sport, right? The tale of entertainment.

“Before Michael Jordan could be Michael Jordan, he had to go through the Detroit Pistons, who were winning in the 80s. He had to beat the Boston Celtics to get to the finals, who were going back and forth with the Lakers. The old guard has to get passed through for the new guard to happen. So for Jon to say he’s a nobody — but is he really? He’s the world champ. Honestly, that’s who he is. He is the No. 2 heavyweight in the world. He’s the interim champ. He’s not a guy that’s just working his way through the division. This is a guy that’s smashed the division.”

By all accounts, Jones isn’t budging on his disinterest when it comes to Aspinall but Cormier also argues that this could just be a way to publicly negotiate for a much bigger purse to take that fight.

If the UFC really wants to make Jones vs. Aspinall, it might force the promotion to add a couple of extra zeroes to any potential payday to make it happen.

But Cormier also understands the risk versus reward scenario for Jones where he could face a heavyweight like Aspinall with eight finishes in the UFC with only one opponent making it past the first round or he could take on a light heavyweight in Pereira, who is a lethal striker but not known as a top level grappler.

“I don’t think he’s scared,’ Cormier said. “Is there a worry that he could lose that match? As I read [his comments], it sounds more and more like it. But he’s not because of fear. He doesn’t really feel like the juice is worth the squeeze.”

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Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 is almost here.

In the latest ‘UFC 309 countdown’ video, get a closer look on how Jones and Miocic are preparing for their colossal showdown in New York City on Saturday night.

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UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko and top ranked contender Manon Fiorot are total professionals in the cage but things got a little chippy between them on social media.

It’s been two months since Shevchenko reclaimed her title with a lopsided win over Alexa Grasso to settle a trilogy of fights between them but Fiorot is anxious to get her own shot at the belt lined up. Fiorot is expected to face Shevchenko next after she dispatched Erin Blanchfield and Rose Namajunas in consecutive fights while improving her UFC record to 7-0 overall.

“Valentina Shevchenko, stop making people wait!” Fiorot said on Twitter. “Let’s do it soon enough so I can send you to retirement and move on.”

It didn’t take long for Shevchenko to see the comment and fire back at the French flyweight.

“You lose, you retire. Deal?” Shevchenko wrote in response. “Ill-mannered first grader.”

The war of words continued with Fiorot sort of accepting those terms but she seemed more interested in actually getting a date and location for the fight against Shevchenko scheduled.

“Deal,” Fiorot said. “I’ll take you seriously when you’ve signed the contract. Damn teacher’s pet.”

Considering some of the volatile trash talk that often erupts between fighters, “ill-mannered first grader” and “damn teacher’s pet” is down right civil.

Still, it’s clear that Fiorot is doing everything possible to get Shevchenko’s attention as she attempts to secure her shot at UFC gold for the first time in her career.

There’s no word if the UFC has actually attempted to book this fight just yet or if Fiorot is looking to get the ball rolling in that department so she can start making plans for early 2024.

As of now based on her Instagram account, Shevchenko is still very much enjoying her vacation after reclaiming the flyweight title in September so it’s tough to tell when that fight might get scheduled.

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Max Holloway has done it all at 145 pounds and he’s no less ambitious when it comes to his expectations in the lightweight division.

“Blessed” recently made it official that he plans to move up in weight and join the UFC’s 155-pound roster following a 12-year run that saw him compete primarily as a featherweight and reign as that division’s champion from 2017 to 2019. Holloway had a chance to regain the featherweight title this past October at UFC 308, but lost to Ilia Topuria, who handed Holloway his first-ever knockout loss.

Moving from one deep division to another, Holloway hopes to follow in the footsteps of light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who claimed the UFC middleweight title from rival Israel Adesanya in just his fourth fight for the promotion. He dropped the belt back to Adesanya in an immediate rematch, but two fights later he won a vacant light heavyweight title by defeating Jiri Prochazka.

Holloway called Pereira an inspiration during a recent Kick stream (h/t Championship Rounds):

“155, cannot wait,” Holloway said. “All I know is, we saw Alex Pereira get finished [by Adesanya], right? Next fight he fought for a No. 1 contender spot. Fought for the title and he’s on a title run right now, a spectacular title run. Let’s mimic it. Let’s do it.”

Since winning the light heavyweight title, Pereira has successfully defended it three times in 2024, making him one of the UFC’s most valuable players. A former kickboxing champion, the 37-year-old Pereira still has plenty of big fights ahead with No. 1 contender Magomed Ankalaev breathing down his neck and all-time great Jon Jones stating his preference would be to fight Pereira should he continue competing after his bout with Stipe Miocic at UFC 309.

Suffice to say, if the lightweight chapter of Holloway’s career is anything close to how Pereira reinvented himself, he’ll be more than pleased.

“I get inspiration in that,” Holloway said. “He’s a beast.”

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