Jon Jones leaves Stipe Miocic confused with six-word threat after refusing hand shake as rivals face off for the first time at tense UFC 309 press conference

Jon Jones left Stipe Miocic with a confused expression on his face as he issued a warning during their face-off at Thursday’s UFC 309 pre-fight press conference.

Jones and Miocic will meet in the octagon at Madison Square Garden this Saturday with the heavyweight title that the former won against Ciryl Gane on the line.

It is a bout that has been a long time in the making, with the clash originally set for UFC 295 in 2023 before Jones suffered a pectoral tear, putting him out of action for a number of months.

Now, he puts his unbeaten record (bar one disqualification) on the line as he takes on veteran Miocic, 42, who in his own right has had an illustrious career in the sport.

The pair have remained respectful on the road to this super-fight but there now seems to be some legitimate tension.

Thousands of fans were in attendance at MSG on Thursday as the two fighters answered questions from the media. 

And there was a bizarre moment as the rivals took part in the traditional face off at the end of the promotional event.

Jones made his way up to Miocic before saying ‘don’t ever mention my kids again.’

Miocic looked nonplussed, replying: ‘I’ve never mentioned your kids.’

Jones had revealed during the press conference that he had taken offence to two comments from Miocic in recent weeks. 

‘Everyone likes first responders and I actually respect men and women in the armed forces and law enforcement and things like that so I made it a point to try and be very respectful to him,’ Jones said. ‘There’s been two scenarios now.

‘First scenario he said ‘my kids will never look at me like I’m an a******.’ That was a direct attack to me and my family and my relationship with my kids. 

‘The second attack was him calling me a b***. So the respect is a little bit out the window and we’ll see that on Saturday.’

And Jones went on to add that the fight had now become ‘very personal’ for him.

In response, Miocic attempted to play down the issue as he more ore or less shrugged his shoulders and insisted he doesn’t even remember saying it.

‘I don’t even remember saying that ‘my kids will never look at me like I’m an a******.’ That was no direct thing to him,’ Miocic said.

‘When I said bring it on, b****, he was pretty much calling me out, telling me he was going to beat my ass in front of a whole arena of people. Sorry for defending myself, I apologize.’