Jon Jones, Stipe Miocic's Next Best Fights After UFC 309 Results

Jon Jones remained the heavyweight champion on Saturday night with a third-round knockout win over Stipe Miocic to close out UFC 309.

Jones has only fought twice since February of 2020, but he was still a sizable favorite on Saturday night. That's partially because he's one of the best fighters of all time, but it was also because his 42-year-old opponent hadn't fought since 2021.

It's a win that cements Jones' legacy as a heavyweight champion, but will also bring a lot of questions about what is next. Will he attempt to unify his heavyweight crown with the current interim or is there a superfight in the offing?

Miocic came out of a pseudo-retirement to fight the 37-year-old Jones. He announced his retirement in the Octagon after the fight. Will he actually stick to that decision when the smoke clears from this fight.

These are the burning questions after Jones' win and we're here to lay out some possibilities if both continue to fight.

• Tom Aspinall
• Alex Pereira
• Francis Ngannou

Jon Jones and UFC president Dana White started the war of the words about who Jon Jones will be fighting before he even stepped foot in the cage with Miocic.

The obvious choice is Tom Aspinall. The British powerhouse has emerged as the top heavyweight in Jones' absence. Aspinall's only loss since signing with the UFC in 2020 was a TKO loss to Curtis Blaydes because of a knee injury.

Aspinall was busy bouncing back from that loss with three consecutive knockout victories over Marcin Tybura, Sergei Pavolovich and Curtis Blaydes while Jones was recovering from the torn pectoral muscle that canceled his initial fight with Miocic.

His win over gave him the interim title and he defended it with a first-round knockout victory over Blaydes.

However, Jones has publicly stated that Aspinall "hasn't proven anything" and he's not interested in giving him the opportunity to do so.

Instead, Jones has said that he prefers a megafight with current light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira. Pereira could become the UFC's first three-weight champion if he were to move up and beat Jones.

If we're talking matchups that would need a minor miracle to create, the next best fight is Francis Ngannou. The Predator just made a successful debut against Renan Ferreira in the PFL.

However, the relationship between Ngannou and the UFC was so bad that he left and Jones still has about six fights left on the eight-fight contract he reportedly signed ahead of his bout with Ciryl Gane.

We probably aren't getting that one, but it's going to be a fun hypothetical until we do or they both retire.

• Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov winner
• Francis Ngannou
• Retirement

It should first be stated that if Miocic is adamant about the decision that he announced in the cage he should remain retired. He has put together a Hall of Fame career and didn't look great on Saturday not.

However, if he has a change of heart, he wouldn't have much time to get back into the title picture.

That would mean a potential fight with the winner of the UFC 310 bout between Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov could be the answer. Gane and Volkov are ranked Nos. 2 and 3 respectively in the UFC rankings.

However, they could be waiting a while for Jones, Dana White and Tom Aspinall to figure out what is going to happen with the championship belts, they may want to take on another fight.

A matchup against Miocic would give the winner of the December fight a high profile matchup against an aging veteran coming off a loss. It would also offer the former champion to take their spot in line.

The out-of-the-box move would be for Miocic to find his way to PFL. Miocic has said a rubber match against Ngannou is the fight he wanted most, but the devastating power puncher's departure took it off the table.

There isn't much out there on how many fights Miocic has left on his UFC contract, but if he's in a position to get out of it, PFL should be willing to make a strong offer to give them someone to fight their champion.