NEW YORK – Charles Oliveira praised Ilia Topuria, but says a lightweight move won’t be easy.

UFC featherweight champion Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC), who’s coming off back-to-back knockouts of Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, is confident he can become the first to submit UFC lightweight champ Islam Makhachev.

A former lightweight champion, Oliveira (34-10 MMA, 22-10 UFC) acknowledges Topuria’s skillset, but reminds him of the shark tank in his division.

“Ilia is a tough fighter – someone who talks the talk and walks the walk,” Oliveira said through an interpreter during Wednesday’s UFC 309 media day. “He’s doing things. I can see why he would want to challenge people. He would be, obviously, a tough fight.

“I think that what happens is a lot of fighters, whenever they get the belt, they have that belt wrapped around their waist, they start thinking up and down in the divisions. But I think you have to be very careful when you’re coming up to lightweight because this is tough. This is a very tough division. But at any rate, I think that he’s a very tough and very dangerous guy.”

Oliveira runs things back with Michael Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 309 (pay-per-view, ESPNews/Hulu/FX, ESPN+) co-main event at Madison Square Garden in New York. Oliveira won their first meeting by knockout to claim the vacant lightweight title at UFC 262 in May 2021.

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

NEW YORK – After more than 20 months of buildup, Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic finally crossed paths in a formal setting in advance of their heavyweight title fight at Thursday’s UFC 309 pre-fight press conference.

After answering questions from the media, reigning champion Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) and former titleholder Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) came face to face for a staredown before what’s being promoted as a historic encounter between two all-time greats.

Jones made it clear during the press conference that things have gotten personal for him thanks tosome previous comments made by Miocic. When they came together to face off, Miocic extended for a handshake that Jones ignored, creating a tense moment before they clash in Saturday’s headliner at Madison Square Garden (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+).

Check out the video above to watch the Jones vs. Miocic staredown from the UFC 309 pre-fight press conference.

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

NEW YORK – Jon Jones’ demeanor toward Stipe Miocic has taken a turn during UFC 309 fight week, and with the fight more than 48 hours away, it’s clear things have gotten personal.

Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) returns from a more than 20-month layoff Saturday when he puts his heavyweight title on the line for the first time against former two-time champion Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) in the main event at Madison Square Garden (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+)

After initially displaying respect toward Miocic in the months leading up to this week, reigning champ Jones said he got riled up when Miocic called him a “b*tch” – “bring it on, b*tch” were his exact words – on the UFC 309 “Countdown” show. Jones also claims Miocic said he was a poor example for his children given his history of personal missteps, and now Jones’ attitude has changed.

“Everyone likes first responders, and I actually respect men and women in the armed forces and law enforcement, things like that, so I made it a point to try to be very respectful to him,” Jones told MMA Junkie and other reporters at the UFC 309 press conference. “There’s been two scenarios now. First scenario, he said ‘my kids will never look at me like I’m an a**hole.’ That was a direct attack at me and my family and my relationship with my kids. Second attack was him calling me a b*tch. So the respect is a little bit out the window, and we’ll see that on Saturday.”

When asked outright how things have changed, Jones said, “It’s very personal to me, yes.”

Miocic appeared dumbfounded by Jones’ comments. He said with Jones claiming he would defeat him in front of a sold-out crowd in New York and in front of the world, he told him “bring it on, b*tch.” How that made things so personal is lost on Miocic, but it also doesn’t matter to him.

“I don’t even remember saying that, ‘My kids won’t look at me like an asshole,’” Miocic said. “That was no direct thing to him. And when I said ‘bring it on, b*tch,’ pretty much he was calling me out, telling me he was gonna beat my ass in front of a whole arena of people. So, sorry for defending myself. I apologize. …

“I think every fight is personal no matter what. You’re fighting another man in the octagon. It’s always personal.”

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

Video Details

Jon Jones dropped whatever respect he was showing towards Stipe Miocic during an icy faceoff following the UFC 309 pre-fight press conference on Thursday.

As the fighters came together on the stage, Miocic had his hand outstretched but Jones ignored him before they came nose-to-nose with UFC CEO Dana White keeping the peace between them. Jones stared down Miocic and he could be heard saying “don’t mention my kids again.”

Miocic’s response was inaudible, but he didn’t seem all that bothered by the incident as they broke apart and stood forward for a few more seconds before leaving the stage.

The dramatic shift between the main event fighters happened after Jones took offense to a couple of things that he claims Miocic said about him in the days leading up to the fight. After previously taking aim at Miocic for calling him “bitch” during UFC Countdown, Jones then revealed another comment that he believes was a direct shot at him and his family.

“Everyone likes first responders and I actually respect men and women in the armed forces and law enforcement and things like that so I made it a point to try and be very respectful to him,” Jones said. “There’s been two scenarios now.

“First scenario he said ‘my kids will never look at me like I’m an assh*le.’ That was a direct attack to me and my family and my relationship with my kids. The second attack was him calling me a bitch. So the respect is a little bit out the window and we’ll see that on Saturday.”

When asked if his approach to the fight has changed after what Miocic said, Jones said emphatically “it’s very personal to me, yes.”

In response, Miocic more or less shrugged his shoulders at Jones getting so upset by what he said, especially considering he doesn’t even remember saying it.

“I don’t even remember saying that ‘my kids will never look at me like I’m an assh*le.’ That was no direct thing to him,” Miocic said.

“When I said bring it on, bitch, he was pretty much calling me out, telling me he was going to beat my ass in front of a whole arena of people. Sorry for defending myself, I apologize.”

Jones and Miocic will face off one final time on Friday at the ceremonial weigh-ins and then meet in the octagon in the UFC 309 main event where they look to settle their beef with the heavyweight title going up for grabs.