Stipe Miocic News

Tom Taylor - January 21, 2018

Last night, UFC heavyweight Stipe Miocic made easy work of surging knockout artist Francis Ngannou, defending his title with a lopsided, unanimous decision. If you watched the pre-fight promos for this fight, however, this result might have come as a bit of a surprise. In the buildup to this fight, many members of the MMA community noted that the UFC hype machine seemed to be focused on Ngannou. Even Miocic was aware of this, admitting he felt a bit “disrespected.”

Tom Taylor - January 20, 2018

Last night, in the main event of UFC 220, Stipe Miocic made a record-setting third-straight defense of the UFC heavyweight title, derailing the hype train of French-Cameroonian knockout artist Francis Ngannou with a dominant unanimous decision win. In the buildup to this fight, many members of the MMA community noted that the promotion seemed to hope Ngannou would win the title, evidently sensing it had found it’s next cash cow. Miocic made no secret of the fact that he shared this opinion, admitting he felt disrespected by the promotion.

Russell Sai - January 20, 2018

Stipe Miocic became the first man in history to defend the UFC heavyweight title three consecutive times on Saturday night at UFC 220 in Boston. Miocic was matched up against the feared and powerful knockout artist Francis Ngannou and was able to put the brakes on Ngannou’s quick rise and exposed some holes in his game. The UFC heavyweight champion ended up winning a five-round unanimous decision and cemented his place in history.

Tom Taylor - January 20, 2018

In the main event of UFC 220, Stipe Miocic attempted a record-setting third-straight defense of the UFC heavyweight title. His opponent was surging French-Cameroonian knockout artist Francis Ngannou. Much like Volkan Oezdemir before him, the challenger Francis Ngannou came out extremely aggressive. And much like Daniel Cormier before him, Miocic weathered the storm, defended intelligently, and picked his shots. Once he’d survived his challenger’s initial barrage, Miocic began to land, and even seemed to wobble his challenger on several occasions. Despite several scares, however, champion and challenger survived to the second.

Justin Golightly - January 17, 2018

From the sand mines and homelessness in France, Francis Ngannou has overcome everything and entered a world of crisp suits and headlining UFC 220. Ngannou’s journey has been nothing short of incredible, but it’s not just about him, it’s about where he came from. His rise to success leads hopeful footsteps that people back home can follow. Whether that dream be fighting for a UFC championship, or simply finishing school, Ngannou wants to show generations of people that anything is possible. “This is going to close the chapter of my childhood and teenage years. All that time I have been frustrated with my whole life, with a feeling that I was always the last one who never had a chance. So I want to close that. I want to leave that behind me. This journey now is not only mine, it’s for all Cameroonians and for the whole of Africa and all of France, too. In Africa, when I started the journey, I was by myself. No one believed me at that time, and today all of them believe in me and they almost rely on me. It’s very important, because I can bring hope to someone or help someone to be ambitious and tell them that everything is possible.”

Justin Golightly - January 12, 2018

A giant specimen with natural strength and constantly evolving skills. Six UFC fights, all finishes, complete with an action movie-style knockout over Alistair Overeem. This is Francis Ngannou. The next big thing. The monster who is walking into the Octagon in a week against Stipe Miocic, a fight the heavyweight champion says himself that the UFC wants him to lose. However, can Ngannou fulfill all of the UFC’s prophecies? Francis Ngannou thinks he can and he will, in two rounds at UFC 220 in Boston. “I’ve never been in that level but I always train for that level. When I go to my training camp, I train my conditioning, everything, I prepare [for] a regular fight, for the regular round fight. Even the fight against Alistair Overeem, I was already prepared for five rounds because I knew I was going to have Stipe [Miocic] after that. That is the problem because people always want to believe what they see.”

Justin Golightly - January 11, 2018

The UFC’s first pay-per-view of 2018 is just over a week away and they’ve been strapping a rocket ship of hype to the card. It looks like the marketing behind it is stepping into overdrive as it draws even closer. New beer sponsor Modelo has chosen UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic to be involved in their new ‘Fighting Spirit’ ad campaign, highlighting special stories of blue collar success. Aside from Reebok and Conor McGregor’s Monster Energy commercial, this looks to be one of the ads yet. “As we looked across the UFC, Stipe [Miocic] rose to the top as one of the stories we’d like to tell and we’re looking forward to telling the stories of other UFC fighters with this digital video series.” — Ann Legan, Modelo’s Vice President of Marketing, speaking to ESPN.

Justin Golightly - January 9, 2018

The danger of Francis Ngannou has reached mythic proportions as UFC 220 draws closer and closer. In his short but meteoric rise, Ngannou has become almost a folk hero. His documentary is a crazy eye-opening rags to riches story and we all know by now that he has record-breaking punching power. However, his head coach Fernand Lopez says there are still a lot more that no one has seen yet, from his ground game to even more lethal striking techniques. Quite frankly, he’s afraid of what Ngannou can do to opponents. “I think there are a lot of fighters in the UFC who we’ve never seen the best of because they’ve never had the opportunity to showcase the skills they have. If you’re going to a decision every time you fight, you may have time to show everything, but this guy [Francis Ngannou], he’s spent like one hour in [the cage] his whole career. People really don’t know what this guy can do. Submissions, heel hooks, if you see this guy does a heel hook or guillotine someone, it’s crazy. He’s got a very quick, very nasty guillotine, very nasty heel hook. There are so many skills he can do.”

Tom Taylor - January 8, 2018

Arguably the biggest fight on the horizon at present will occur in the main event of UFC 220 on January 20, when Stipe Miocic attempts a record-breaking third-straight defense of the UFC heavyweight title opposite Francis Ngannou, a true force of destruction widely regarded as the next big thing in MMA. While Miocic stands to become the most dominant heavyweight champion in UFC history on this card, he’s actually been pegged as the underdog against the ferocious Ngannou. In the opinion of MMA analyst and Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix contestant Chael Sonnen, however, this is a mistake.

Justin Golightly - January 6, 2018

The biggest heavyweight fight potentially of all-time is a couple of weeks away and it is curiously absent of trash talk. Although, when you’re two guys like Francis Ngannou and Stipe Miocic, the need to say threatening things has never really been something that comes up a lot. Both men are equally humble as they are frightening. Both men have made it a habit of dispatching other scary dudes. Which is why Miocic shrugs at the notion of Ngannou’s horror story mythos being built around him and his record-breaking punching power. To Stipe Miocic, Ngannou is just one more guy like he’s fought over and over. “[Franics Ngannou]’s tough, he’s big, strong, hits hard but he’s just another dude. That’s what it is. You’re telling me Mark Hunt doesn’t hit that hard? Or Roy Nelson? Or Junior dos Santos? Come on. He hits hard and definitely if you get hit square like that [it’s bad news], but I’m definitely going to keep my head up, keep my head on a swivel, and make sure I’m doing everything right.”

Justin Golightly - January 4, 2018

It looks like the UFC’s ‘next big thing’ turned out to be exactly what they wanted him to be. Francis Ngannou has laid waste to the last ten people that he’s fought, with K-1 and PRIDE veteran Alistair Overeem recently added to the list of victims. He’s a giant natural talent that used to be homeless and didn’t even know what MMA was five years ago. He’ll be going up against reigning UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, who still manages to hold down a job as a full-time firefighter. It’s an incredible match-up that’s got Dana White more excited than he’s been since Conor McGregor boxed Floyd Mayweather. “This fight is awesome. I can’t wait. When we put together that promo [for UFC 220], I watched it 650 times. I love it. I mean, two knockout punchers. Two guys who come forward and try to finish you. It is the perfect heavyweight match-up. It’s one of the — if not the best heavyweight fight we’ve ever done. One of the best ever in the history of the UFC. It’s in Boston. The thing sold out immediately. […] [Ngannou is] somebody we’ve been focused on for the last year and a half but I didn’t expect that. You see the way that punch landed [on Alistair Overeem], it’s like something out a movie. Super impressive.”

Justin Golightly - January 4, 2018

Stipe Miocic is not intimidated. To the reigning UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou is just another giant man trying to take his head off. The same kind of monster he has faced multiple times before. He’s on the edge of making history, with what the UFC is promoting as his biggest challenge yet just ahead of him. There hasn’t been any trash talk. There hasn’t been any insults. Stipe Miocic is simply letting his record speak for himself, just like his recent Twitter post sending a message to Ngannou. Andrei Arlovski — RD1 0:54 ✅ Fabricio Werdum — RD1 2:47 ✅ Alistair Overeem — RD1 4:27 ✅ Junior dos Santos — RD1 2:22 ✅ Francis Ngannou — 1/20 #AndStill pic.twitter.com/QPApohmtey

Chris Taylor - December 23, 2017

Stipe Miocic receives some NFL support prior to his UFC 220 title fight with Francis Ngannou. UFC heavyweight champion of the world Stipe Miocic will attempt to make his third consecutive title defense at January’s UFC 220 event in Boston when he squares off with surging division contender Francis Ngannou.

Justin Golightly - December 23, 2017

Francis Ngannou and Stipe Miocic will be decided who is the baddest man on the planet at UFC Boston, but if Daniel Cormier successfully defends his light heavyweight belt on the same card, he could move up and test that title as well. He was asked about going back to heavyweight for a giant fight to close out his career in a recent interview and said it’d be ‘the most amazing thing in the world.’ Not only that, but it seems like he’s thought about it a lot. His coach Javier Mendez opened up about the idea and thinks it could happen, with Cain Velasquez’s permission that is. “Yeah, [Daniel Cormier moving up to fight for the heavyweight title is] a fun theory too and it could be a realistic theory, and this is how it would work out if it did happen, okay. Cain [Velasquez] would talk to DC or DC would go to Cain, he’d go, ‘Hey, Cain, I wanna fight for the title against Stipe, do you have a problem for me going that one shot?’ And if Cain says yes, which I’m sure if that’s what they agreed on, then yeah, that would happen. That’s not far-fetched. It really isn’t, because that could be something that could happen. But it would be between DC and Cain, they would make that decision jointly together.”

Justin Golightly - December 21, 2017

Francis Ngannou is one fight away from fulfilling the prophecies of being the next big thing. He’s scheduled to fight Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title in Boston on January 20th. Coincidentally, on the same card as Daniel Cormier’s title defense against Volkan Oezdemir. Aside from one loss and one no contest to Jon Jones, DC is perfect in his career, both at light heavyweight and heavyweight. As his career reaches its peak and cuts get harder, Cormier could go back up to heavyweight to end his career with a bang. This could set up one of the biggest fights in UFC history. “It would be the most amazing thing in the world [to challenge the UFC heavyweight champion as my final fight], but that would take some thinking, some talking and a real solid plan to try to get back to the type of weight that I would need to compete against [Stipe Miocic or Francis Ngannou]. Because, again, I’m not going in there to lose and say I gave it my best shot. If I go in there with Miocic or Ngannou, I’m going to win. That’s just who I am. So that would just be me and my team really coming up with a solid plan on how I’m going to get up to a healthy, strong, 245, 235, 240 pounds to go and fight those dudes.”

Justin Golightly - December 13, 2017

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. All finishes. Everyone Francis Ngannou has tested his record-breaking power on has not been able to take it. The latest victory over former K-1 grand prix champion Alistair Overeem, earned the surging contender the biggest fight of his career. At UFC 220 in Boston early next year, he will fight Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title. The full-time firefighter isn’t phases though. He spoke to Joe Rogan today about the match-up and claims no one — not even Ngannou — will take the belt from him. “I think [Francis Ngannou]’s a great fighter, you know? Definitely. He brings it. He hits hard. Unfortunately, nothing’s going to change. I’m walking out with the belt still wrapped around my waist. I’m excited for him. You know, he’s getting a shot, but as long as I’m here no one’s going to be the champ. His power I guess, [stands out] but I think everyone hits hard in the heavyweight division. A 260-pound man, 250-pound man — you’re not supposed to be hit by something like that. I fought [Junior dos Santos]. I fought Roy Nelson. I fought Mark Hunt. I mean, I fought guys who threw hard. He’s a little wild, too. That’s tough. Sometimes you can’t prepare for that because there are punches you don’t see.”

Russell Ess - December 6, 2017

According to UFC commentator Joe Rogan, we could be seeing a resurgence of days similar to the likes of when “Iron” Mike Tyson was the most feared man to step into the ring with. Over the weekend at UFC 218, rising heavyweight star Francis Ngannou put together a highlight reel knockout over the always dangerous Alistair Overeem. With the win, Ngannou has earned a shot at the UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and the two are reportedly being targeted to fight at UFC 220 in January.

Russell Ess - December 6, 2017

The last time we saw a UFC heavyweight title fight was back in May when champion Stipe Miocic successfully defended his belt against Junior dos Santos. In doing so, Miocic scored another first-round finish and avenged a 2014 decision loss to dos Santos. With Francis Ngannou’s insane highlight knockout over Alistair Overeem that took place over the weekend at UFC 218, the rising heavyweight knockout specialist has earned a shot against Miocic.