UFC 309 is just around the corner, with Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic set to finally face off. Should the winner decide not to retire, does a megafight with Alex Pereira or Tom Aspinall await?

Chael Sonnen thinks fans hoping to have that question answered need to pump their brakes.

On an episode of Good Guy/Bad Guy, Sonnen claimed that he has reason to believe neither Pereira nor Aspinall will get the winner of next Saturday’s main event; rather, they’ll have to fight each other first.

“I have always believed—and this is nothing more than rumor—and I back this with a little evidence, but I have always maintained that Pereira’s next fight will be against Aspinall and it will be for the interim [heavyweight] title,” Sonnen said. “I even believe I know when it’s going to be. I believe it’s going to be mid-January in California [at UFC 311].”

A Pereira-Aspinall matchup wouldn’t be completely out of the blue, as the suggestion has been brought up to the fighters in the past, though both have also expressed a desire to fight Jones, arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time. Most recently, Jones stated that should he defeat Miocic, he’d consider fighting Pereira next.

There’s also the consideration that Pereira, the reigning light heavyweight champion, has a No. 1 contender waiting for him in his division in Magomed Ankalaev. However, with the UFC not committing to that matchup yet, Pereira—also a former champion at 185 pounds—remains free to vie for a third title should he make the jump up to heavyweight.

Once the UFC 309 headliner has his hand raised, who does Sonnen see the cameras going to first with Pereira and Aspinall both expected to be in attendance at Madison Square Garden?

“I do believe there’s going to be a panning to both of those guys,” Sonnen said. “I believe there’s going to be a conversation, but not because they’re next for the winner of Jones-Stipe. I think they’re going to find a way to get those two together and the winner will take on Jones or Stipe. That is purely a rumor, but I’m just offering it.

“I’m also hearing that Pereira’s hand isn’t going to be quite ready by December but could be by January and, again, you remove Ankalaev but you insert Aspinall, I just think there’s some legs to that. Now, there has to be certain outcomes. Stipe comes in, he wins this, everything we just said is up in smoke, but I’ve never seen Dana White play checkers. I’ve always seen Dana White be two and three steps ahead and I’m telling you, I believe the direction they’re looking to go if everything works out: Aspinall-Pereira.”

Friday’s ONE Championship heavyweight title fight has been expected to be a doozy for a while, and that was confirmed at the news conference.

Tempers weren’t exactly kept in check when three-division champ Anatoly Malykhin and Oumar Kane (aka “Reug Reug”) squared off for the ONE 169 heavyweight title main event.

Malykhin (14-0) got a physical reaction from Kane (6-1) in their faceoff, and after a few more physical decisions they had to be separated.

Former UFC middleweight champion and current ONE VP Rich Franklin thinks there’s reason to feel a buzz around the heavyweight headliner because Malykhin is back in the division and not down a weight class or two.

“It’s been a while since we’ve had a heavyweight title match, particularly with Malykhin bouncing around and the different matches he did in the different weight classes,” Franklin told MMA Junkie Radio. “This is the first time we’ve had the king in that division back again (in a while), so this is a big deal.”

Malykhin never has been out of the third round and has all 14 of his wins by finish, including two over former two-division champ Reinier de Ridder, who makes his UFC debut Saturday in the co-main event.

His dominance has led to him being a prohibitive 10-1 favorite at the betting window against Kane. But Franklin cautioned against counting out the 32-year-old from Senegal.

“‘Reug Reug’ – I’ll say this: I wasn’t a big believer when he came into the organization. I was like, meh,” Franklin said. “But each fight, he’s been able to close the gap a bit more and a bit more. I think Malykhin is going to be a tough opponent for him – a very tough opponent – so he’ll need to up his game because Malykhin is more of the complete package.

“I do believe ‘Reug Reug’ will have to rely on his wrestling more. But ‘Reug Reug’ is a super athletic guy, and because of his wrestling, he’s a bit more unorthodox with his striking – so that can oftentimes make bad fighters look good, as well.”

THE HERD WITH COLIN COWHERD

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MMA Fighting has ONE 169 results for the Malykhin vs. Reug Reug fight card from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday night.

In the main event, Anatoly Malykhin defends his ONE heavyweight title against Oumar Kane, popularly known as “Reug Reug.” Malykhin has reeled off 14 straight wins to begin his pro career, while Reug Reug (6-1) has only suffered one professional loss.

Rodtang Jitmuangnon lost his ONE flyweight Muay Thai title after failing to make weight, but Jacob Smith still has a chance to win the championship after hitting the mark. Their fight is now a catchweight at 135.5 pounds.

Check out ONE 169 results below (MMA unless otherwise noted).

Main Card (Amazon Prime at 8 p.m. ET)

Anatoly Malykhin vs. Reug Reug

Rodtang Jitmuangnon vs. Jacob Smith (Muay Thai)

Jackie Buntan vs. Anissa Meksen (kickboxing)

Adriano Moraes vs. Danny Kingad

Kongthoranee Sor Sommai vs. Tagir Khalilov (Muay Thai)

Kade Ruotolo vs. Ahmed Mujtba (kickboxing)

Sam-A Gaiyanghadao vs. Zhang Peimian

Marcus Buchecha vs. Amir Aliakbari

Eddie Abasolo vs. Mohamed Younes Rabah (Muay Thai)

Ayaka Miura vs. Macarena Aragon

Aliff Sor Dechapan vs. Walter Goncalves (Muay Thai)

Marcus Almeida isn’t happy with how things currently stand with ONE Championship.

Almeida, a jiu-jitsu legend who turned to MMA in 2021, is frustrated with the lack of fights he’s been presented by the organization since his last appearance – a showdown with Oumar Kane in August 2023. “Buchecha” makes his return Friday night at ONE Championship 169 in Bangkok. He takes on Amir Aliakbari in a heavyweight bout.

Almeida is not sure why it’s taken him 15 months to return to fighting, and he’s not content about it.

“No, I’ve been ready since the last fight,” Almeida told MMA Junkie when asked about why he’s been inactive. “Unfortunately that’s not up to me. That’s because of the organization, because I want to keep active, and I want to keep fighting, but I don’t know the reason to it. That’s why I was out. It wasn’t up to me.”

Almeida did have an active start to his MMA career. He competed four times in 11 months under ONE Championship. He was hoping the promotion would keep a slightly similar pace for him, as he’d like to fight at least three times a year, but that hasn’t been the case.

“In jiu-jitsu, I used to compete a lot, so to be sitting out for 15 months, for me, it was horrible,” Almeida explained. “It’s a bad experience for my career, and I’m not getting any younger, but it is what it is.”

Almeida told MMA Fighting’s Guillerme Cruz in Portuguese that Friday’s bout will be the last on his current contract. It’s unknown if he’ll re-sign with the promotion.

As of now, Almeida has one thing to focus on, and that’s his bout against Aliakbari, which he’s taking very seriously.

“We have like a similar record in ONE Championship,” Almeida said regarding Aliakbari. “Of course, he has a career before ONE, but he has four victories, I have four victories, and he has two loses, and I have one. So it’s pretty much similar to what we did in ONE Championship. Like I said, he fought Rizin and other events before that, so of course he has a lot of experience with me in MMA. He’s a tough opponent and has fought a lot of tough guys. It’s going to be a good fight, grappler vs. grappler, so it’s going to be really interesting for the audience.”

Following an unexpected 18-month layoff, former ONE flyweight champion Adriano Moraes is finally ready to make his return to action with a fight booked against Danny Kingad on Friday at ONE 169.

The long absence followed a trilogy of fights against Demetrious Johnson where Moraes became the first person in history to finish the former UFC champion before falling in their next two encounters. Johnson actually sat on his final win over Moraes for over a year before finally announcing his retirement from the sport in September.

While they may have been professional rivals in the cage, Moraes had nothing but praise for Johnson when addressing his former foe after he called it a career.

“I was happy for him,” Moraes told MMA Fighting. “I think he achieved a lot of things in his career. I think for him it was great to stop at the top of the division, at the top of his career. I think for him, he did everything he could to be one of the greatest of all time and he had a really great career. I think he wanted to stop on top of his career.

“He was the guy who opened the division for all of us flyweight fighters in this division. I remember I was a big fan of him for sure, I followed his career from the beginning. So for me to have this trilogy against him was amazing. To be part of his legacy and him to be part of my legacy. For me, it was one of the best things to ever happen. To be the first man to finish him for me, for my legacy, it’s really great.”

As much as Moraes wishes Johnson well in whatever he does next, the Brazilian isn’t totally convinced that “Mighty Mouse” won’t get that itch to compete again.

In a sport where it seems like nobody ever stays retired, Moraes can’t help but wonder if perhaps Johnson might eventually decide to come back for another fight.

“For me, it doesn’t matter [if we fight again],” Moraes said. “I just have to focus on my way but something tells me he’s going to come back. If I capture the belt again, maybe he can come back and we will have our fourth dance.”

When asked about Moraes’ comments, Johnson actually burst out laughing but not because he was mocking his former opponent.

Instead, Johnson made it clear that he’s resolved in his decision to stay retired and waiting for over a year after his last fight before making that announcement gave him time to see if he got the desire to compete again. By the time he declared that he was hanging up his gloves for good, Johnson knew definitively that he was done and there was no chance he was coming back.

“That was the whole point [about waiting],” Johnson told MMA Fighting. “Obviously everybody has so many different things going on in their life. I know Donald Cerrone … he’s done movies, he’s got his ranch, he’s got his children, he does scuba diving, he does so [many] things in his life that keep him busy. So maybe he wants to come back to get that 50 fights in the UFC.

“For me, mixed martial arts, competing, I get enjoyment out of doing it in jiu-jitsu and going into IBJJF and doing that stuff. So for me, I just don’t see a point to coming back.”

For now it doesn’t really matter if Johnson ever fights again because he’s not active and he already relinquished the ONE flyweight title on his way out the door.

In a perfect world, Moraes would be fighting for that belt on Friday but unfortunately that just wasn’t in the plans for ONE Championship just yet.

“I don’t know [why this fight isn’t for the title] but it’s not depending on me,” Moraes said. “It’s depending on the boss of the house.

“As an athlete, I have to train and prepare and fight everything they call me. I already defended my belt years ago against Danny Kingad. I think the belt should be on the line for sure but let’s see [what happens].”