Stipe Miocic has blasted 'comical' Jon Jones after the pair went back-and-forth over a rude remark he made during camp.
The heavyweight duo have been generally more than respectful with one another leading into UFC 309, leading to a relatively quiet build-up. They were due to fight last year, but the bout isn't hitting with the same intensity as most bouts with two years of promotion.
However, it now appears that the pair are beginning to fire up after a UFC Countdown video shows Miocic call Jones a 'b****'. This angered the legendary two-weight champion, who hit back in a segment of his own before the pair travelled to New York City.
For the entirety of the past two years building up, Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic have been respectful, perhaps even gushing, over one another's skills. But that all changed when the two-time champion made a seemingly innocuous off-hand jab.
There had been almost no needle between the pair, with Jones' silent feud with Tom Aspinall seemingly attracting more attention as the year progressed. But when Miocic simply told his rival "bring it on b***," it angered the New Yorker.
The feature was otherwise relatively tame, simply detailing their journeys since last year's bout was cancelled due to a Jones injury. The documentary series is infamously formulaic, and seemingly did little to build the feud between them.
However, Jones did not receive his rival's jab well at all, and it appears to have stirred tensions between the duo. He hit back with a message of his own in today's episode of the UFC Embedded vlog series, seemingly legitimately angered.
"So I'm watching the Countdown with some friends, teammates and family," Jones told the cameras. "I thought it went really well, I thought we represented ourselves well as gentlemen and vey experienced martial artists.
"Then at the end Stipe says 'bring it on b****'. F***ing bring it on? I didn't think that was necessary, This is the fight game, if he thinks I'm a b*** he has to back that up, that's a lot of pressure. So we'll see who the b*** is."
The entire thing seems to have made Miocic laugh, as opposed to taking too much issue. Jones had also goaded him on social media for training with black fighters, which he felt was done to 'mimic' him in sparring, and the former champion did not take too kindly to the tweet.
"I keep talking about that," Miocic replied during UFC 309 media day. "He was literally telling everyone he was going to beat my a**. I'm almost positive. Did he not say that before [the b**** comment was made]? Sorry. Talk s*** about me but whatever."
As for the racial aspect, Miocic added in a joking message: "That was bulls*** because they're my teammates. They're like, 'We're not getting paid?' Apparently, I'm hiring people, too. Whatever."