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.
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Miocic may have done his city proud, but he was unfortunately the only OH fighter to come away with a victory. But the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Miocic, urged by the crowd chanting Stee-pay, Stee-pay, escaped the hold and quickly pressed the action. Miocic wrested the UFC Heavyweight title from Werdum in May, and tonight will mark his first attempt to defend it.
In the post fight Octagon interview with Joe Rogan, Miocic said that he trains for that everyday, adding that he’s still the heavyweight champion of the world, which the hometown crowd responded with a cheerful uproar.
“Stipe was the better man today”, said Overeem, one of UFC’s most experienced fighters.
-Stipe Miocic def. Alistair Overeem via KO (round 1). “I didn’t know that it was that late”.
The night’s card features two more heavyweight contenders and WWE superstar CM Punk’s debut fight against Mickey Gall. He went on to lose three of his next four fights before turning it around with a four-fight win streak. “I thought he tapped”. 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. “I’ve trained too hard to give up my title”. I’m not going to be in any of them but I’m going to watch them. At one point, Overeem stumbled and Miocic took advantage, securing a takedown.
-Mickey Gall def. CM Punk via rear naked choke (round 1).
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We’ll have the results updated after each fight so keep refreshing as the night goes on! The Fox Sports 1 card began with the lightweight bout between Drew Dober and Jason Gonzalez pushed up from the Fight Pass card. The former WWE superstar’s turn to mixed martial arts has been so hyped, you nearly forget the name of his opponent – a presumably game Mickey Gall, a guy that doesn’t even have his own Wikipedia page (Dude, get on that!). Unless you wanna whip out that plastic right now and get on over to Ohio.
