However, his opponent, Overeem has made massive progress during his time in the UFC, and event though he is the smaller of the two fighters, he will believe he has gained the skills to overcome Miocic in today’s battle.
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The Quicken Loans Arena erupted as Stipe Miocic was pulled from the downed Alistair Overeem with thirty seconds left in the first round of their main event meeting at UFC 203 in the champion’s home, Philadephia.
Miocic found himself in trouble early in the fight, taking a punch to the chin that knocked him off his feet. Although in order to take the fight to the ground, you need to approach, and on a short distance Stipe Miocic may well test the strength of the chin Overeem.
Miocic was unfazed of Overeem’s ferocious attacks as he marched forward to tag his cage counterpart with his signature right straight.
Earlier, former WWE star CM Punk was pounded in less than three minutes in his MMA debut.
It might be tougher to keep a title than earn it in the heavyweight division, but Miocic has evolved from freestyle wrestling background into a hybrid of grappler and disciplined boxer who keeps his guard up.
Overeem can out-kick Miocic easily from the outside, but can also land some powerful game-changing knees if things move closer into a clinch. Werdum won the fight via unanimous decision, but it really wasn’t much of a fight. He said that his goal at UFC 203 was to shut Overeem down and “turn the motherboard off”, something he convincingly accomplished after quickly recovering from the knockdown.
“I wasn’t even close to tapping out”.
The 38-year-old Punk charged Gall but was on his back less than 10 seconds into the fight.
With Punk lying prone, Gall smashed a right hand into his temple and then kneeled on top of him and swung both arms like a pendulum, connecting with one hard shot after another.
UFC 203 is here with a heavyweight championship fight and one of the most anticipated debuts in the company’s history. “He let go”, he said. He put me on my ass, I felt fine. There are a lot of victories already here, but the goal is obviously to get my hand raised. “I just don’t know how and to think it would happen here like this; just blows my mind”.
Prior to Miocics bout, former heavyweight champ Fabricio Werdum won a unanimous decision over Travis Browne.
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Congratulations to Cleveland! You still have a UFC heavyweight champion and it was in a fight that was simultaneously exciting, crazy, stupid, and dramatic. “It’s life. That’s what I chose to do”, he said.
