#15: Stipe Miocic
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The UFC wanted a god-slayer as their champion.
Cain Velasquez was a seemingly viable candidate, with his Mexican heritage and his ultraviolent style of wrestleboxing. A combination of hellacious training and an inability to fight smarter instead of harder meant his body simply couldn’t keep up with his competitive drive. Fabricio Werdum could have been the successor when he beat down and strangled Velasquez to win the title in Cain’s backyard. A Brazilian hero returning in the late stages of his career for an unprecedented run to the title was at least something the UFC could market. With the weight of an entire nation on his back, however, he crumpled spectacularly.
Francis Ngannou? Perhaps. A titanic African man with a rags-to-riches backstory and earth-shattering power in both hands. Surely, he would fit the bill nicely for the UFC, as Ngannou could provide exactly the sort of star power the heavyweight division has always lacked, mopping up contenders in a matter of seconds. This was all before Ngannou got humiliated in his first title attempt, and then managed to lose a fifteen-minute kickboxing match to Derrick Lewis in a legendarily horrendous fight. Physically impressive as he might be, his technical ability hit a brick wall and most realized (at least for the moment) that he’s just not that good.
A fireman? Now, that is a much more dubious proposition. A gravel-mouthed, blue-collar fighter with competent skills everywhere in MMA with a knack for strategy and tactics. By day, he is an Ohio Firefighter-Paramedic who seemingly loves his job more than the sport he reigns over. In interviews, he is candid and friendly, casually talking with journalists like friends, uninterested in trash talk or PPV sales. Amongst his own people, he is the life of the party. In the pre-fight Embedded videos for UFC 211, Stipe buys a slingshot and accidently shoots a hole in his garage door, “Oooooh, I missed and I am so in trouble right now!” In a matter of days, this man would be defending his heavyweight belt against former champion, Junior Dos Santos, and Stipe seemed more worried about his wife having a fit over their garage. When an interviewer asked if he would ever stop working as a firefighter, Stipe quickly replied, “Never.”
People questioned his commitment to the sport. Miocic’s first challenger Alistair Overeem claimed Stipe was a “wolf with a full belly,” and that his relative inexperience was going to cost him. Francis Ngannou believed he saw “weakness” in Miocic’s eyes. Daniel Cormier seemed obtusely convinced that Miocic wasn’t good enough to beat him. Stipe never seemed to care. Breaking the heavyweight title defense record was a great achievement for the division, but Miocic didn’t give it a moment of thought after defeating Ngannou. “That don’t mean shit, I’m gonna be a dad. That’s all the matters to me right now.”
Over time, we witnessed how fierce a competitor Stipe Miocic is. After a five-round war with Junior dos Santos, (Miocic’s mere second career loss), Stipe said to his coach, Marcus Marinelli in the locker room, “I can beat this guy,” to which his coach agreed. Three years later, in their rematch for the title, Miocic crushed dos Santos in less than three minutes with a subtle combination of pressure and counterpunching. In a Brazilian stadium filled to the brim with 45,000 screaming fans, all of whom wanted to see Miocic lose in stunningly brutal fashion, Stipe remained unshakable. Even when the arenas were behind him in venues like his hometown Ohio and Boston, Stipe held the same unflappable expression on his face. After an upset loss to Daniel Cormier, Stipe took more than an entire year off from MMA, focusing on his home life with his new baby daughter and his wife, waiting patiently for a rematch.
People questioned his lack of activity. For a 37-year-old coming off a first round knockout loss that cost him the title, sitting on the shelf for more than a year was not optimal. It didn’t matter. After three grinding rounds of exchanges in which Miocic appeared to be falling behind, a persistent left hook to the body completely unraveled Daniel Cormier in a matter of minutes. Against the self-proclaimed King of the Grind, Stipe showed adaptability; an attribute Cormier himself has never seemed to understand. Five out of six heavyweight title fights ended in a victory for Stipe Miocic, four of which coming by way of stoppage. He lost the title, and then emphatically won it back on his very next attempt.
Analysts had a difficult time themselves; just how good is Stipe Miocic? How did this technician continue winning in such dynamic fashion, and yet so few people managed to pick his fights successfully? Maybe it was the fact that Stipe was a much better athlete than he often looked; a well-built heavyweight by any metric, but far from the granite etchings of an Anthony Joshua. Maybe it was the ease with which Stipe made his opponents look pedestrian. Fabricio Werdum, Alistair Overeem, and Junior dos Santos. All champions that were supposed to give Miocic a run for his money. Apart from a brief scare against Overeem, Miocic handled them all with relative ease.
Maybe it was that Stipe possessed some of biggest punching power in MMA history, and no one realized it. Out of 19 career victories, 15 have come by way of stoppage. Witnessing him snipe Werdum into the land of whispers and dreams with a backstepping cross counter is the kind of talent that is rare for men of this size. In massive single punches or in attritional volume, Stipe is a violent finisher. Unlike most heavyweights who leverage their punching power above all else, however, Miocic has exemplified more technical depth than most fighters in the big man division. He’s an exceptionally multifaceted fighter in a division filled to the brim with guys who fall apart without their A-game.
Stipe stays in his stance when pressuring. He knows when to break stance, feint and sidestep laterally when he’s being pressured. He possesses a powerful jab, a solid left hook (particularly to the body of Daniel Cormier), a booming right cross, and a pair of inside + outside leg kicks. When opponents attempt to close him down recklessly, he can dive on reactive singles, or draw responses from them and counterpunch. He’s a force from top position, implementing classic wrestling positions like the ride along the fence as well as a guard passing game with a mean brand of ground-and-pound.
His technical game runs deeper than just the weapons he has or the strategy he selects to handle specific opponents. Miocic is a strong tactician. In their first fight, Junior dos Santos’ body jab entry and all of the combinations that came behind it befuddled Miocic. In the rematch, Stipe immediately starting countering the body jab with his thunderous right, and whenever his opponent inadvertently backed himself up to the fence, Stipe would sit down on his punches and light him up. In his most complete performances against Hunt and Ngannou, Miocic would blend feints, jabs, inside leg kicks, and level changes to turn both punchers completely passive. After drawing out the overextended responses, Stipe would pivot and counter them when their positioning was compromised.
To quote Phil Mackenzie, “Unlike many in the division, there isn’t really a ‘how’ or a phase where people want to fight Miocic. They simply have to be better than him.” Stipe Miocic made his case as one of the greatest fighters of all time by proving how skill matters in a division as chaotic and high-variance as heavyweight. Everyone in the division has their fair share of humiliating losses, and Miocic has a couple himself. Sometimes you have to win ugly. However, what Stipe managed to do as champion was exercise restraint, consistency, and flexibility. These are not words generally compatible with heavyweights in MMA.
Perhaps after destroying Daniel Cormier to reclaim his title and silencing his rival, people will stop questioning Stipe Miocic. It’s about time. This man has done nearly everything in his power to convince the world that he is the greatest heavyweight of all time. We should believe it.