If Jon Jones sticks around beyond his upcoming matchup against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309, then he’s got designs on a potential fight against a reigning champion but not the one you might think.

With rumors of retirement swirling around his return on Nov. 16, the now 37-year-old heavyweight champion doesn’t have anything left to prove when it comes to his accomplishments in the sport. That’s why Jones isn’t interested in just fighting anybody at this stage of his career but there is a certain Brazilian knockout artist who’s captured his attention lately.

“If there were to be a fight of a guy that’s still on our UFC roster that would be not only financially worth it but legacy worth it, it would be Alex Pereira,” Jones told Kevin Iole ahead of UFC 309. “Alex Pereira and I, we’re both 37 years old. Right now I weigh about 235 [pounds]. I’m an incredibly light heavyweight. I think Pereira walks around at 240.

“I think that fight would go much farther on my legacy than a young man who’s cool today and maybe gone tomorrow.”

In his short time since joining the UFC roster, Pereira already claimed titles across two different weight classes and he’s scored wins over five former UFC champions. He’s currently riding a five-fight win streak with four knockouts along the way while becoming arguably one of the biggest stars in teh sport.

Meanwhile, the “young man” in question is UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, who is expected to be in attendance at Madison Square Garden in New York when Jones defends his belt against Miocic in the main event.

Aspinall has asked numerous times for the chance to face Jones since defeating Sergei Pavlovich to claim the interim title but his calls have largely fallen on deaf ears.

While he’s said recently that he hopes that the winner in the UFC 309 main event sticks around long enough to unify the titles, Aspinall probably won’t be thrilled to hear what Jones had to say about that potential matchup.

“More than likely not [fighting Tom Aspinall],” Jones revealed. “I feel like Tom Aspinall is, I don’t want to say nobody, but he just hasn’t proven anything. He hasn’t done anything. I understand that he won his belt against Sergei [Pavlovich]. Sergei just got slaughtered by [Alexander Volkov]. I’m not here to gamble someone else making a name off of me.

“I’m here to compete against the guys when we look back 10 years from now like ‘Jon Jones fought this guy and that guy and this legend and this champion and this champion.’”

As impressive as Aspinall has been during his UFC campaign with an 8-1 record overall and all of his wins coming by knockout or submission inside the first two rounds, Jones just doesn’t see a big enough body of work to make it worth his time to seek out that fight.

Throughout his 16-year UFC career, Jones has witnessed plenty of highly touted prospects come and go and he’s just not interested in sticking around to face the next big thing.

“I remember a time when the whole world thought Johnny Walker was going to be the guy to beat me,” Jones said. “No disrespect for Johnny Walker but we’ve all see the way his career has played out.

“I’ve just been here too long to get all excited about someone who’s hot today. I’m here for legacy. I’ve been gambling for too long to just take random fights.”

Dricus Du Plessis wouldn’t shy away from standing with Alex Pereira if they fought.

Middleweight champion Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) hopes to get a crack at light heavyweight champion Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) down the line, and he likes his chances against him. Du Plessis insists strength would not be an issue, but acknowledges range likely would.

Du Plessis overcame that range in his most recent outing against Israel Adesanya, where he was able to hurt him on the feet then submit him to retain his title at UFC 305.

“If I’m talking about just the stand up exchanges, I’m not fighting a kickboxing fight,” Du Plessis told Submission Radio. “I’m fighting an MMA fight, and a kickboxing fight, you need to be able to land combos. You need to land massive punches the whole time. Get a guy rocked, you get an eight-count – you have all those variables. Where in MMA, I don’t care who you are: If I catch you clean with those small gloves, you’re going to go down, and I am going to catch you eventually.

“Now, I said it with Izzy. He said I’m too slow. I wouldn’t be able to catch him. Well, yeah. Like, I made a post yesterday saying maybe it’s not pretty, but damn, it’s effective because I will catch you eventually, and then it’s a whole different story because I’m not engaging in a kickboxing fight. I’m punching, and I’m kicking, but it’s not a kickboxing fight. It’s an MMA fight, and when I put those together, it’s a different fight.”

Du Plessis paid Pereira plenty of respect, and wouldn’t even fault him if he decided to retire before he gets a chance to fight him. But after watching Pereira’s most recent title defense against Khalil Rountree – a violent Round 4 TKO at UFC 307, the South African fighter thinks Pereira is hittable.

“I honestly believe that with a guy like Alex Pereira, he has power,” Du Plessis said. “I have a lot of power, too. Yes, he has crisp striking. His striking is incredible. That’s why he has the kickboxing resume he has. But we saw with the Khalil Rountree fight – we saw a lot of things. Khalil had  success in those first two rounds. He really did.”

The captain, who was also benched for the league win over St Mirren last month, came off on the 67th minute at Hampden and was then dropped for Thursday’s game in Greece.

It is impossible to say whether the result would have been different or not had Tavernier started, but what is clear is both Sterling and Kasanwirjo can be pleased with their defensive displays against a disappointing Olympiakos attack.

Clement hailed his “really solid” defence and heaped praise on his midfield for playing their parts in the draw, which meant Rangers are now unbeaten in their last five away Europa League matches – equalling their longest such run in the competition’s history.

The clearest sign on where Clement ranks Tavernier in his pecking order will now come on Sunday when Hearts visit Ibrox, but the Belgian insisted he wanted to see leadership coming from more than just one player.

“It’s never an easy decision, but I want more than one captain in the group,” the Rangers boss said of his call to bench Tavernier.

“If you [get to] a certain age you can’t play 60 games at the same level. We knew that before the season and we spoke about that.

“It’s about competition for spots. It’s about one team, winning together. That’s Rangers – one team, one family, going for one goal.”

UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis has all the respect in the world for light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira, but if the UFC were to book a matchup between the two titleholders, du Plessis can see a real world where he stops Pereira with strikes.

“If I’m talking about just the standup exchanges—I’m not fighting a kickboxing fight, I’m fighting an MMA fight,” du Plessis told Submission Radio. “And in a kickboxing fight, You need to be able to land combos, you need to land massive punches the whole time, get a guy rocked, you get an eight count, you have all those variables. Where in MMA, I don’t care who you are. If I catch you clean with those small gloves, you’re going to go down and I am going to catch you eventually.”

Du Plessis captured the middleweight title with a decision win over Sean Strickland at UFC 297 this past January, and then stopped Israel Adesanya in his first title defense at UFC 305 the following August. At light heavyweight, Pereira has put together a Fighter of the Year campaign with knockout wins over Jamahal Hill, Jiri Prochazka, and Khalil Rountree.

The South African champion understands he has his work cut out for him, but after watching Pereira’s win over Rountree, du Plessis saw some things he could capitalize on.

“Now, I said it with with Izzy—he said, I’m too slow, I wouldn’t be able to catch him. Well, yeah,” du Plessis said. “I made a post recently saying maybe it’s not pretty, but damn, it’s effective because I will catch you eventually. And then it’s then it’s a whole different story because I’m not engaging in a kickboxing fight. I’m punching and I’m kicking, but it’s not a kickboxing fight. It’s an MMA fight, and when I put those together, it’s a different fight.

“So I honestly believe that with a guy like Alex Pereira, he has power. I have a lot of power too. The man is… yeah [he has] crisp striking. His striking is incredible. That’s why he has the kickboxing résumé. … But we saw with [the] Khalil Rountree fight, we saw a lot of things that [Rountree had] a lot of success [with] in those first two rounds. He really did.”

Watch du Plessis’ interview with Submission Radio below.

The Chiefs, as you may have heard, are the NFL’s last unbeaten team, now 8-0 and almost halfway to the elusive perfect regular season.

The 1972 Dolphins, the only team to pull off an undefeated full season, opened that year with a win against the Chiefs, having beaten them in the playoffs the previous season. So any Chiefs run at perfection is ultimately a slow-burn revenge mission, and a difficult one at that.

Do the Chiefs even want to stay perfect? Kansas City has had two teams open 9-0, and both lost the 10th game. The 2003 Chiefs finished 13-3 and lost in their first playoff game; the 2013 Chiefs dropped five of seven to finish 11-5 and lost in the wild-card round.

So we’re here to remind you how remarkably unlikely a perfect season will be, no matter how good the Chiefs might be. They can be the best team in the NFL and win an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl and still fall well short of perfection. There’s no shame in that. Here are a few vulnerabilities to watch, relative weak spots that could be exposed in an eventual loss to spoil that bid at 20-0.

Turnover margin

The Chiefs are not a good turnover team. They have forced exactly eight takeaways in eight games, and on turnover margin, they’re tied for 24th this season at minus-4. This is not a new development: Kansas City won a Super Bowl last year despite finishing 28th in turnover margin, and did the same in 2022 while ranking 22nd in turnover margin. Last year’s champs forced 17 takeaways in 17 regular-season games.

They’re good enough that they don’t need to win on turnovers. Since Patrick Mahomes took over as starter in 2018, they’re 37-2 when they simply force more turnovers than they commit. Dead even on turnovers? They’re 24-6, winning 80 percent of the time. Even when they’re minus-1, as they were in Monday’s overtime win over the Bucs, they’re 17-9, winning almost two out of three times.

But get them to minus-2, and it’s a conversation you can have. When the Chiefs are minus-2 or worse under Mahomes, they’re 5-7. That’s actually really good under the circumstances, as NFL teams that are minus-2 or worse are 9-41 this year, winning just 18 percent of the time.

Why we bring this up: The Chiefs’ remaining schedule includes three of the NFL’s best teams in turnover margin. In two weeks, they face the Bills, tied for the league’s best at plus-11 in turnovers, and later they’ll face the Chargers (plus-9) and Steelers (plus-10). All three are leading their divisions right now, and the net turnover differential between the Chiefs and those teams is enough to bring those rare minus-2 scenarios into play.

Mahomes’ interceptions are up this year, enough that he was tied for the league lead with nine before this past weekend. It’s rare he has more than one in a game — it’s happened only 14 times in his seven-year career, but the Chiefs are just 8-6 in those games. So if a team can pick him off a couple times, there’s a chance.

Keep them under 20 points

Much has been written about how the Chiefs have won as much with their defense this year. Before Monday night, they’d won 13 games in a row and had scored 28 points or fewer in all 13 games, the only such streak in NFL history. They scored 30 points on Monday, but needed overtime to do it.

All this is to say that these Chiefs have not been a dominant team offensively over the past two years. At their scoring peak, from the start of 2020 to their Week 8 bye in 2022, Kansas City scored 40 or more points 11 times in 46 games, but since then, they’ve scored 40 or more just once in their past 42 games.

“Hey, get them to score less” is not an innovative strategy, but the key number to aim for is 20 points or fewer. When the Chiefs scored 20 or fewer last year, they were just 4-6. Only one team has held them under 20 this year, and it’s the Chargers, who have the NFL’s No. 1 scoring defense and lost 17-10 in their first meeting.

The Chiefs’ remaining schedule includes four games against the NFL’s top three scoring defenses — a rematch with the Chargers, a Week 17 showdown with the Steelers and two against the Broncos, this week and the season finale. That game at Buffalo next weekend — a rematch of last year’s playoff showdown — would also put Kansas City against the league’s No. 8 scoring defense.

Kickoff return concerns

The Bucs’ Bucky Irving had a 46-yard kickoff return Monday night, the second-longest the Chiefs have allowed over the past three seasons. Special teams coordinator Dave Toub is one of the best in the league, and Kansas City has an 80 percent touchback rate with Harrison Butker, so the team’s opponents have only returned nine kickoffs all season.

But on those returns, they’re averaging 30 yards per return, the eighth-highest average in the league. The Saints’ Rashid Shaheed had a 38-yard return against the Chiefs and the 49ers‘ Isaac Guerendo had a 35-yarder. The entire league has given up only three kickoff return touchdowns all season, and Kansas City hasn’t allowed one since 2020, but it’s something to watch. Keep an eye out for Bills rookie Brandon Codrington in two weeks.

The threat of a Mahomes injury

It’s almost cheating to have an undefeated season end because of a quarterback injury, but Mahomes had a scare early in the fourth quarter Monday night when he scrambled to his right, then pulled up and tossed a touchdown to Samaje Perine. He was down on the field with an ankle injury and initially had to be helped to the sideline before finishing the walk on his own. He ended up not missing a snap, but the concern was enough to have TV showing backup Carson Wentz throwing on the sideline.

Mahomes has been remarkably healthy in his NFL career, missing only two starts in seven seasons due to injury — in 2019 with a dislocated kneecap. He sat out the regular-season finales in 2020 and 2023 because the Chiefs had clinched everything they could, but otherwise, he’s been able to play every game.

Could the Chiefs win with Wentz? He’s 3-5 as a starter since the start of 2022 in stints with the Commanders and Rams. The Chiefs split the two games Mahomes missed in 2019, and that was with Matt Moore filling in at quarterback. Mahomes’ current ankle injury won’t sideline him, but it might limit his scrambling ability and the elusiveness that allows him to extend plays and improvise as few quarterbacks can.

Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.

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UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones and former champ Stipe Miocic are little more than a week away from squaring off, which means their training camps are starting to wind down.

Jones puts his title on the line against Miocic in the UFC 309 main event on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York (ESPN+ pay-per-view). The matchup is being hyped as an important legacy fight for both men, with Jones, who spent the vast majority of his career ruling the light heavyweight division, widely considered the greatest fighter of all time and Miocic, who holds the UFC record for consecutive heavyweight title defenses (3), widely regarded as the promotion’s greatest heavyweight of all time.

The pause, however, is that neither Jones nor Miocic has been very active in recent years.

Starting with 37-year-old Jones, he had just one fight in the past four-and-a-half years, and that was 20 months ago when he submitted Ciryl Gane in his heavyweight debut for vacant title at UFC 285. Jones also is coming off a torn pectoral tendon one year ago and has had multiple surgeries since then.

For Miocic, the layoff has been even longer. Now 42, Miocic hasn’t competed since being knocked out in a rematch with Francis Ngannou to lose the title on March 27, 2021 at UFC 260.

Suffice to say, it’ll be interesting to see how Jones and Miocic look when they step inside the octagon for a scheduled five-round fight. In the buildup to UFC 309, both men have offered glimpses into the late stages of their training on social media.

You can watch their videos below:     

Nov. 5: Jones cracks mitts, shows off spinning back kick

Nov. 6: Jones hits bag, works ropes, does cardio in snow

Nov. 6: Miocic works intense gym cardio

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