Not only did he finally get his title shot, but Miocic, fighting in enemy territory, broke the Cleveland curse and, with yet another right-hand knockout, captured UFC championship gold.
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In the tournament UFC 203, which will be held in Cleveland, in the main battle will converge Stipe Miocic and Alistayr Overeem.
Overeem, a highly-decorated heavyweight and former kickboxing world champion, said in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan that he believed Miocic tapped out when Overeem had the guillotine briefly locked in.
Overeem will take on Miocic in the champion’s first title defense in the main event of UFC 203 at Quicken Loans Arena tonight, and plans on adding the missing piece of his two-decade mixed martial arts career to the trophy case. After defeating Andrei Arlovski in January at UFC 195, the 34-year-old fighter returned to the ring to trounce Fabricio Werdum at UFC 198.
“I know I’m better than I was last fight and I keep getting better every day”. With the UFC Heavyweight Championship online the line, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Miocic, the current reigning champ. Miocic showed to be too much, however, and pounded away with punches before the referee pulled him off to signal an end to the fight.
It’s clear that Miocic will need to be fully focussed on Overeem to take out the legendary Dutch fighter who will be competing in his 57th professional fight at this weekend’s event.
But it’s not often that a fighter gets “home-Octagon” advantage in the MMA. Miocic lands a nice 2 punch combination.
“I just remember signing my check and all that good stuff, and I heard boos”, Miocic explained. The UFC said Dolloway had suffered a back injury.
The other five champions, Holly Holm (women’s bantamweight), Fabricio Werdum (heavyweight), Luke Rockhold (middleweight), Miesha Tate (women’s bantamweight) and Robbie Lawler (welterweight), have all been unsuccessful in defending their titles in 2016. “Nothing has changed with my training except that I’m training harder than I ever have before”. “This was a hell of a mountain to try and climb but I’m not going to quit”.
Earlier on in the evening, the prelim fights saw UFC veteran Nik Lentz win with a second-round KO of Michael McBride, a late stand-in for up and coming Chechen Mairbek Taisumov, who had to pull out because of problems with his visa.
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Im going to remember this for the rest of my life, Miocic said.
