“Not a historian of war…” – Jon Jones alludes Stipe Miocic’s ‘poor’ training clips as deception

Mind games are part of the course in the world of mixed martial arts. Reigning heavyweight champion Jon Jones has employed mind games in the past. As such, he has a theory about his upcoming opponent, Stipe Miocic. Jones believed that Miocic may be employing a clever tactical deception.

Miocic recently shared a training clip that left some fans underwhelmed. However, Jon Jones isn’t buying into the seemingly lackluster footage. With a seasoned fighter’s wisdom, ‘Bones’ alluded to the potential for trickery.

I’m not a historian of war or anything, but I have learned a thing or two in my day. A big part of combat strategy is timing and deception. To make a long story short, if your opponent appears weak, prepare even harder. Complacency is the greatest enemy to a fighter like myself.
Jon Jones via X

Stipe Miocic’s training footage possibly seemed uninspiring and sluggish. Nevertheless, Jones knows better than to take his opponent lightly. Many fighters trick their rivals into believing they are weak, only to fully unleash their strength immediately after the start of a fight. In the near future, these two athletes will battle it out in the octagon. Jones has been getting back into shape following his pectoral muscle injury.

No one could say for sure whether the training clips of Miocic were really unimpressive or just a mental warfare tactic. Not too long ago, Jones flirted with the idea of fighting Alex Pereira rather than Tom Aspinall to improve his legacy. It led Aspinall to comment Jones’ comment was nothing but a mind game tactic.

Tom Aspinall recently found himself in Jon Jones’ crosshairs. This time, Jones is hanging on to a recent comment made by Aspinall about his fight against Curtis Blaydes. The reigning champion is making the irony of the situation clear.

Tom Aspinall and Jon Jones (Source: Instagram/nypost.com)

Aspinall recently stated that Blaydes was a formidable fighter with immense skill and power. However, he believed that Blaydes lacked the star power to sell the fight. The British heavyweight believed that this was a lose-lose situation for him. Jones capitalized on this comment. Check out the tweet from Jones below: