Historically, the heavyweight category is the most successful in contact sports. They are the biggest, the ones that end the fight with a single blow and the ones that generate the most expectation. Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali are examples of this in boxing. Legends like Randy Couture or Daniel Cormier have passed through the UFC division, but none has done what Stipe Miocic (20-4). This is the athlete with most championship wins in the history of the division in the UFC, with a total of six. This weekend he will return to the cage to prove it against Jon Jones.
The Cleveland native with Croatian roots was an athlete forever. He played American football, baseball, Olympic wrestling and boxing (he was a Cleveland Golden Gloves winner) and in 2010 he entered mixed martial arts (MMA) professionally. All this while continuing to work as firefighter and paramedic in Ohio. In fact, he still is today, and even kept the job while he was champion.
He debuted in the UFC on October 8, 2011, with a decision victory against Joey Beltran, and from there he achieved two more wins, both by TKO. Then he would have to learn in his first defeat against Stefan Struve, in which he was knocked out. Given this, he accumulated another streak of three consecutive victories, and then lost against Junior dos Santos by decision. However, that fight did not take him too far from the title. And after knocking out Mark Hunt and Andrei Arlovski, he would be called to fight the champion Fabrício Werdum.
Stipe Miocic finished Werdum after turning out the lights in the first round and became heavyweight champion of the UFC. Additionally, it broke Cleveland’s 52-year championship drought. With two more knockouts and a decision over Francis Ngannou he successfully racked up three consecutive defenses of the belt, something no one had achieved before. But Daniel Cormier, who had just triumphed at light heavyweight, ended the streak of the most dangerous firefighter by knocking him out in the first round.
In the rematch, the one from Cleveland would prevail by punishing Cormier’s body and finished him off with blows in the fourth round. With this victory, Miocic equaled Randy Couture and Tim Sylvia in number of championship victories. This record would be broken by himself by beating DC in the finale of his trilogy. Unfortunately for him, Francis Ngannou would once again stand in his way with a renewed style. This stopped the champion’s fight and dealt him the final blow in the second round.
The fight was on March 27, 2021, and since then, Stipe, now 42, has not returned to the cage. In his career he has been the most victorious in heavyweight championship fights (6) and the one who has obtained the most bonuses of the night (9), due to his great performances. Now he has a duel at his level, Jon Jones, who is for many the best in the history of the sport. The question is whether he can return to his best level after his last defeat and being more than three years away of the competition.
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