TOM ASPINALL has revealed his “respect” for Jon Jones is fast eroding as the UFC heavyweight champion continues to dismiss a future fight with him. 

The pride of Wigan has been chasing a blockbuster unification fight with the MMA icon ever since he claimed the interim title last November. 

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But Jones has repeatedly dismissed the prospect of sharing the octagon with the 31-year-old, who he’s branded the “intern champion” on a number of occasions. 

The Hall of Famer has double downed on his dismissiveness to fight Aspinall ahead of his maiden defence of the heavyweight title fight against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 early on Sunday morning. 

And the burly Brit is growing tired of what he believes to be Jones’ “ducking and diving.”

He said on his YouTube channel: “Jon Jones’ resume is far superior to mine. 

“But he has what I deserve and I want to go and prove that I’m the guy. 

“And that’s the only way we can sort it. So I’m challenging him to a fight. 

“And I’m a little bit disappointed that Jon, as the great champion that he is, doesn’t want to give other guys the opportunity when someone is breathing down his neck. 

“Because that’s the first thing that most champions would do is like, ‘Right, this guy wants it.

“I’m gonna put him in his place.’

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How to Watch UFC 309

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The UFC makes it’s annual visit to New York City on November 16 for another blockbuster pay-per-view card.

UFC 309 will take place at the iconic Madison Square Garden, which provided some unforgettable moments since mixed martial arts was legalised in New York state in 2016.

Topping the bill at the ‘World’s Most Famous Arena’ is the eagerly-anticipated heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and former titleholder Stipe Miocic.

And in the co-main event of the evening, Michael Chandler will throw down with former lightweight champion and fellow fan favourite Charles Oliveira.

UFC 309 is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated cards of what has been another massive year for MMA’s top promotion.

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And fans in the UK and Ireland can watch all the action from what promises to be an incredible night at MSG live on TNT Sports Box Office.

The penultimate pay-per-view card of the year will be available to purchase for a mere £19.99.

UFC 309 will also be available to buy on Discovery+, EE TV, Prime Video, Virgin Media TV and Sky Sports.

And fight fans don’t need to subscribe to TNT Sports to buy the star-studded event.

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Watch UFC 309: Jones v Miocic exclusively live on TNT Sports Box Office from 1am on Saturday 16 November.

For more info visit: tntsports.co.uk/boxoffice

“And if he thinks that I don’t deserve it, show me that I don’t deserve it. Show me.”

“If you kick my arse in front of the whole world, I’m happy to stick my hand out and go, ‘Listen, you’re the better man.’

‘No problem. You took my dreams away from me, but at least I tried.’

“But this ducking and diving is something that I don’t really have respect for.”

There’s a chance Aspinall could end up sharing the octagon with Jones this weekend as he’s the official backup fighter for the New York showdown. 

It won’t, however, be a short-notice showdown for the interim king of the heavyweights, who has had a full training camp in preparation for a potential last-minute call-up. 

But the Atherton assassin doesn’t foresee either Jones or Miocic accepting a short-notice MSG melee with him. 

“I’ve been preparing like I have a fight,” he said. “Do I think that’s gonna happen?

“I highly doubt it. I highly doubt that these guys are gonna take the fight on less than a week’s notice now.

“But we’re showing up, just in case. “

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Don’t expect Stipe Miocic to get drawn into a war of words with Jon Jones.

With just days remaining until they meet in the UFC 309 main event, the seemingly respectful showdown took an odd turn after UFC Countdown aired prior to fight week. In the feature, Miocic said “bring it on, bitch” when addressing Jones and that apparently upset the reigning UFC heavyweight champion, who took to social media to fire back at his upcoming opponent.

“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.”

Miocic has no idea why Jones got so rattled by such an innocuous comment, but he’s not spending a lot of time thinking about it.

“I keep talking about that,” Miocic said during UFC 309 media day. “He was literally telling everyone he was going to beat my ass. I’m almost positive. Did he not say that before [I called him a bitch]? Sorry. Talk shit about me but whatever.”

If anything got Miocic heated it was Jones’ claim that he was “hiring Black fighters” to help him prepare for the fight.

“That was bullshit because they’re my teammates,” Miocic said. “They’re like, ‘We’re not getting paid?’ Apparently, I’m hiring people, too. Whatever.”

Throughout his career, Jones has engaged in a few tense rivalries, perhaps none uglier than his longstanding feud with Daniel Cormier. He also went through something similar with former teammate Rashad Evans after Jones became UFC champion while they were originally training under the same coaches.

Perhaps Jones’ comments towards Miocic are a way to get him more amped up for the fight or maybe it’s just a promotional tool to stir up more pay-per-view buys. Whatever the case, Miocic doesn’t really care much about what Jones has to say about him.

“Maybe [that’s what he needs to get motivated], maybe not,” Miocic said. “I don’t know what he’s thinking but some of the stuff, I’m just like OK. I literally had no idea [what he said] until somebody told me. It’s funny. It’s just comical. It’s actually very funny.”

It turns out his philosophy of not paying much attention to what’s said about him was an epiphany for Miocic that changed his career forever.

In the past, he admits that off-handed comments from fighters or fans would get under his skin, but Miocic learned over time that none of it really matters.

“In the beginning of my career, I was a little sensitive about it,” Miocic said. “You don’t know me, I don’t know you but why are you saying shit like that to me? I would get terrible [direct messages] and stuff. Like what is wrong with you? You don’t know me.

“But I literally just stopped caring because I realized, they don’t know me, I don’t know them. They’re just pissed off about something and they’re just trying to take it out on me. I could care less honestly. It’s the best thing I ever did in my life.”

Just because he doesn’t give fiery comments any oxygen doesn’t mean that Miocic has escaped that kind of vitriol coming his way. The difference these days, much like with what Jones had to say about him, is that Miocic pretty much just ignores it and moves on.

“You get hate all the time,” Miocic said. “You get DMs all the time [saying,] ‘You’re a piece of shit, I hope you die.’ Whatever. It is what it is.”

It’s shocking to think NASCAR’s playoff format has been around for 20 years. Its Chase for the Cup, the original ‘new’ playoff format, kicked off in 2004. In its first three years, it produced three champions from three different organizations. It seemed to be accomplishing exactly what NASCAR intended it to do, keeping the title fight interesting to the very end. And then came along Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus, and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team to smash their hopes into a million Lowe’s-colored pieces.

NASCAR has always been keen to tweak the format, and come 2014, the series’ complete overhaul stunned the racing world. The new, multi-round elimination format would hopefully ensure no single driver could ever game the system like that again. Except, after Joey Logano’s  third title win in Phoenix, along with Team Penske clinching a third consecutive Cup title, you have to wonder if maybe they’d successfully accomplished NASCAR’s nightmare: Cracking the code to winning the playoff game as the No. 48 once did.

Championship victory lane: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2010 champion Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorspor

Photo by: Motorsport.com / ASP Inc.

Think of it this way, Logano is this format’s Jimmie Johnson. Now, stay with me because I’m not saying Logano has had Johnson-esque seasons. But he is the only driver to win three titles in this format, collecting three of the last seven Cup championships. After last weekend’s 1-2, Penske has now won three consecutive which hasn’t been done since the Johnson era. Obviously, it’s not the five years of dominance the Johnson/Knaus enjoyed, but it’s still quite the feat for a format designed to ensure any sort of dominance or consistent winning is prevented. Yet, no driver has made more final four appearances than Logano.

A look at the years where Logano has won reveals a common trend: Every single time he won the Cup, he always won the first race in the Round of 8 too. Logano advanced on by shoving Martin Truex Jr. out of the way to win Martinsville in 2018, out-dueled Ross Chastain at Vegas in 2022, and bested everyone in a fuel-mileage race at Vegas in 2024. For the two weeks that followed these critical race wins, his team focused solely on the finale, enough that he usually ran terribly at the races in between. Yet he’d then go on to win the finale and title. He never won more than two races during the 26-race regular season of any of these title runs either, but he did win when it mattered most. 

Beware the 48…and now the 22?

When the Chase for the Cup kicked off each year, everyone knew that they had to accept Johnson and the No. 48’s eventual success. It wouldn’t (and didn’t) matter what sort of season they had up to that point. Johnson and team always found a way in through those final ten races. Hell, he even managed to win a couple more titles as NASCAR changed the format around on him, including his record-tying seventh title in the Championship 4 era. That actually would be the first time Johnson had ever won at Homestead, because in all of the years before that, he never needed to (points racing was still a crucial part of the old playoff format). Like Logano, he did exactly what he needed to do, when he needed to do it, and benefited greatly because of it.

These teams basically used the first 26 race weeks to prepare and perfect their cars for the races that truly mattered. Just look at Logano earlier in the year. His crew always seemed to be figuring things out and stumbling over themselves at the start of these seasons that lead into title wins. In 2024, he had just one top-five finish in the first 14 races. In 2022, Logano was a third of the way through the season before he even won a race. In 2018, it was the same story again, with a single superspeedway victory during the entirety of the regular season.

Logano’s consistent approach of winning — when he needed to — is extremely reminiscent of the Hendrick No. 48 of the late 2000s. Again, Logano isn’t dominating like Johnson did, but that’s not what this particular format demands. We’re looking at a format where you can technically win the Daytona 500, DNF the next 25 races, then proceed to bounce through each round on the back of race wins and capture the big prize.

If you can make the playoffs and survive the first two rounds, you’re only one win away from being within reach of the crown. It’s frustrating to many as Logano is taking mostly average seasons, like his 17.1 average finish this year, the lowest-ever for a championship-winning driver, and turning them into gold, but he’s simply gaming the system better than those around them, just like the No. 48 of old.

Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford Mustang and Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

And this had bled over to his Penske teammate Ryan Blaney, who earned only one regular season win in 2023 and two in 2024 before collecting playoff wins at the most critical moments — including the Round of 8. Where Blaney differs from Logano is that he tends to win the closing race of that penultimate round instead of the opener.

On the flip side, and what makes the two different, is the majority of Johnson’s wins during that five-year run were earned during the regular season. Why? Because — and I know I’m repeating myself but I want to emphasize this — that’s what the format demanded. The final ten races worked as a sort of a mini-season with the most points over those ten weeks serving as the path towards the title. There were still bonus points, but they came from wins during the regular season, so that’s what he did while remaining consistent in the finals stretch.

While still a force of nature in the postseason, 22 of Johnson’s 35 wins between 2006 and 2010 came during the regular season. He only went out to win a bunch of playoff races when he couldn’t shake his rivals. For example, in 2007, he was trailing Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon halfway through the postseason, so like flipping a switch, Johnson proceeded to win four of the last five races, crushing the hopes of his fellow Hall of Famer.

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang, winner, Burn Out

Photo by: Gavin Baker / NKP / Motorsport Images

As for Logano, he wasn’t always like this. Looking at the strongest season of his career (2015), he finished sixth in points. That year, he appeared to go 100% in every single playoff race whether he was locked into the next round or not. He ended up sweeping an entire round, which has never been done by anyone else in this format (although Larson did win three in a row across two rounds in 2021).

But Logano didn’t make it to the Championship 4 that year because in his quest to win no matter what, he drew the ire of Matt Kenseth by spinning him out in the battle for the win. Kenseth took revenge at Martinsville while Logano was leading, sinking his 2015 title bid. Maybe he learned something from that, as what we’re seeing now is a far more decisive Logano who is aggressive, but only when it matters. Perhaps Kenseth did him a favor that day, helping to shape the three-time champion we now know.

The Chase for the Cup had Johnson and people hated it because he was too dominant. The elimination format today has Logano, but people hate it because he’s not dominant enough during the year. When NASCAR used a season-long format, people hated that a driver [Kenseth] with a single win in March could point their way to the title. No matter the system, someone is going to figure it out how to hack it and take advantage of that opportunity. That’s just how it is. Logano and Team Penske together appear to have harvested that power. We’ll see if they continue to put it to use for another title in 2025.

Coe oversaw the London 2012 Games before taking charge of World Athletics, and has also enjoyed a successful commercial and political career.

Under Coe, World Athletics has banned transgender women from competing in the female category at international events.

He will also be able to point to his experience, achievements and his willingness to establish the Athletics Integrity Unit – which has a strong reputation for catching dopers – in the competition to replace Bach and become the first Briton to head up the IOC.

“It’s a movement I spent my whole life in,” he added.

“I feel as though actually I’ve probably been in training for life for this so yes, it’d be a huge honour. I don’t know if it’s the toughest race I’ve ever run, but it’s the one I’m best prepared for.”

The new IOC president will be elected in March 2025 and will take over in June.

“I think there are some changes that need to be made and fundamentally around just enabling the membership, the athletes, the National Olympic Committees, the international federations, partners, broadcasters, to have greater skin in the game and to help structure the future,” he said.

“This isn’t the efforts of just one person. I think it needs a collaborative, team-building transition.

“It would be a mistake to conclude that everything is rosy, the red carpet is out in front of us, but we do have to travel down it. I’m very keen to provide structures, governance structures, particularly that allow talented members to be able to shape the direction of the movement, and their voices to be not just heard but acted upon.”

NEW YORK – In the buildup to UFC 309, there’s been a lot of criticism surrounding Stipe Miocic’s upcoming fight against Jon Jones. But to the former heavyweight champion, it’s all white noise.

Miocic returns to the cage this Saturday in the main event of UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden where he challenges Jones for the heavyweight belt. The championship opportunity comes after Miocic spent more than three-and-a-half years inactive, with his last win coming in August 2020.

Lots has been said about the making of this fight, especially with UFC interim champion Tom Aspinall being available, but it hasn’t bothered Miocic one bit.

“I don’t really worry about that,” Miocic said at Wednesday’s UFC 309 media day. “That’s one thing I learned in this career. I stopped caring what people think. You have your opinion, you have your opinion, I’m not going to change it. I really don’t care.”

Miocic blocking people out isn’t exclusive to UFC 309. Miocic hasn’t really paid attention to critics for quite some time.

“In the beginning of my career, I was a little sensitive about it. Like you don’t know me, I don’t know you, so why are you saying sh*t about me?” Miocic said. “I would get terrible DMs and stuff like, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ You don’t know me. I literally just stopped caring because I realized they don’t know me, and I don’t know them. They’re just pissed off about something, and they’re trying to take it off on me. I couldn’t care less, honestly. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

In terms of the fight, it’s been sold and promoted as one of the biggest legacy bouts in UFC history. For Miocic, a win is a win, and that’s all he’s focused on.

“They’re all special,” Miocic said. “I like winning, so every win, like between all three (title reigns), they’re all wins. That’s all I care about. To me, they’re all special. But maybe this one a bit because it’s the Mecca (MSG), and it’s Jon Jones. It doesn’t get bigger than that.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.

Captain Harry Kane is unhappy with the number of players who have withdrawn from the latest England squad, insisting “England comes before club”.

Nine players have dropped out of the squad for Lee Carsley’s final two matches as interim manager before Thomas Tuchel takes charge in January.

“I think England comes before anything. England comes before club,” Kane told ITV Sport.

“England is the most important thing you play as a professional footballer and Gareth [Southgate] was hot on that and he wasn’t afraid to make decisions if, you know, that started to drift from certain players.”

When asked if the desire to play for England has drifted this international break, Kane said: “Yeah, it’s a shame this week obviously.

“I think it’s a tough period of the season, maybe that’s been taken advantage of a little bit.

“I don’t really like it if I’m totally honest. I think England comes before anything, any club situation.”

Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Aaron Ramsdale and Levi Colwill have dropped out.

Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite was one of the replacement players called up to the squad, until he became the ninth player to withdraw.

Liverpool’s Jarell Quansah is set to be his replacement, having trained with the team for the past two days.

England likely must beat Greece in Athens on Thursday and Republic of Ireland at Wembley on Sunday if they are to be promoted to League A of the Uefa Nations League.