Jon Jones made sure he perfected a special move for UFC 309, and it was for Donald Trump, not Stipe Miocic.
At UFC 309 in New York, Jones successfully defended his UFC heavyweight title by defeating Stipe Miocic. Despite it being Miocic`s first fight in three and a half years, Jones was so confident of winning that he dedicated a significant portion of his pre-fight warmup to practicing his celebration.
With former President Donald Trump present at ringside, Jones performed Trump`s signature dance in front of him. According to his cornerman Gordon Ryan, Jones invested considerable time to ensure the dance was executed perfectly.
“A funny Jon Jones story that not many people know is that during his last fight against Stipe, when we learned Trump would be there,” Ryan shared on the Joe Rogan podcast. “For about 15 to 20 minutes of his warmup, while preparing to fight for the belt, he was practicing how to do the Trump dance correctly.”
“We even looked up videos on YouTube,” Ryan added, “and he was practicing the Trump dance in the locker room as part of his preparation.”
Even though it was only Jones` second fight in the heavyweight division, the 37-year-old is very experienced in title fights. During his reign in the light heavyweight division, Jones won 14 championship fights, including eight consecutive defenses of the light heavyweight title from 2011 to 2015.
Rogan laughed at Ryan’s story, commenting, “How confident do you have to be to practice your victory dance before a fight?”
Ryan explained that Jones’ team fully supported the champion’s dance rehearsal, offering guidance to refine his technique, treating it as seriously as practicing fight combinations.
“The funny part is we were all encouraging it,” Ryan said. “We were like, ‘No, your hands need to be a bit higher, a bit lower.’ We were actually coaching him through his dance moves as he practiced.”
