UFC 309: Jon Jones stops Stipe Miocic with a spinning kick to retain the heavyweight title

The UFC billed the fight as the biggest heavyweight fight in history, but it was Aspinall – watching from the side of the octagon – who had dominated the narrative during fight week.

Aspinall revealed he had been banned from a press conference and weighed in with Jones, who was becoming increasingly irritated by the media’s questions about the 31-year-old Briton.

Aspinall won the interim title against Sergei Pavlovich a year ago after an injury forced Jones out of his original fight with Miocic.

However, instead of scheduling a unification title fight, Jones v Miocic was rebooked.

Miocic, showing the same nonchalant energy he had during the build-up, looked relaxed as he walked out.

Jones, meanwhile, smiled and greeted fans as he walked in to Jadakiss’ ‘The Champ is Here’ before entering the octagon with his signature cartwheel.

As Bruce Buffer made his introductions, Aspinall got to his feet before Jones opened the contest with a stinging left hand.

Large pockets of the crowd, carrying Croatian flags in support of Miocic, roared “Stipe, Stipe” in the early moments, but Jones silenced them with an early takedown.

Jones, who has the second-highest takedown defense in UFC history at 95%, dominated the rest of the round, looking for armbars and landing a number of elbows.

He continued to pressure his opponent in the second round, hurting Miocic with a body kick and landing a knee from the clinch before the former champion responded with a trademark straight right.

A straight left jab followed by a short right hand left Miocic with a cut under his right eye midway through the fight before the decisive moment arrived.

With Miocic backed up against the cage, Jones unleashed a crushing, spinning back kick to the body that dropped the challenger before the referee stepped in to end the contest.

Jones celebrated by dancing in the middle of the octagon before going over to greet Trump and handing the president-elect his title.

This was the 28th win of Jones’ career, with his only loss being a disqualification against Matt Hamill in 2009 for using illegal elbows – a move that would be legal under today’s rules.

“It’s like fighting the Terminator,” Jones said of Miocic.

“Very, very disheartening to hit somebody who doesn’t react to it. But that body shot, no matter how hard you are, the liver is the liver.”

Miocic, who did not symbolically take off his gloves as retired fighters usually do, paid tribute to Jones.

“I just didn’t do what I was supposed to. Congratulations to him. He did what he was supposed to do and he won. Only wish him the best,” Miocic said.