The heavyweight title will be up for grabs in Cleveland on September 10, with champion Stipe Miocic and Alistair Overeem’s fight being the main event of the night.
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The specter of losing the strap, and face, is a powerful motivator for Miocic heading into the showdown at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Saturday.
It will be a dream-come-true for Miocic when he makes the walk in his hometown Saturday night.
While the Cleveland fans saw the fight ends as they wished, their man’s title reign looked to be under bigger threat when Alistair Overeem knocked the American down with a big left hand and then looked to end the fight with a guillotine.
Overeem circles a lot to start, forcing Miocic to chase him.
Stipe is defending his heavyweight title when he takes on Overeem in Cleveland, it will be the first time he has attempted to defend the title since winning it from Fabricio Werdum. Miocic, who recovered quickly from the knockdown after getting back to his feet, also said he wasn’t in danger on the choke. In a matter of seconds, Miocic was in a full mount position standing over Overeem and delivered a barrage of punches to Overeem’s skull, forcing the referee to stop the fight. Find out when Stipe Miocic battles Alistair Overeem at UFC 203 during an online live stream. I think I’m the better fighter. Former heavyweight champ Fabricio Werdum hopes to get back in title contention with a win over Travis Browne in the co-headliner. From there Miocic moved into the ascendancy in the striking before taking Overeem to the ground and retaining his belt with some brutal ground and pound to force the stoppage.
Yancy Medeiros submitted Sean Spencer in the lone UFC Fight Pass bout.
“(Cleveland fans) couldn’t be more insane”, Miocic said.
Punk, who was one of WWE’s biggest stars when he left it two years ago to try his hand in ultimate fighting, tapped out just 2:14 into the first round after he was pummeled and choked by welterweight Mickey Gall. “I thought he tapped”.
Overeem nearly ruined things for Miocic when he knocked him on his butt and attempted to end the fight.
“I wasn’t even close to tapping out”. He went on to lose three of his next four fights before turning it around with a four-fight win streak. Honestly, (the choke) sucked, it was bad, he threw a lot harder than I thought, he kicked a lot harder than I thought, that was my own fault. I’m going to drop him. Punk was immediately taken down and in under two minutes, Gall had the 37-year-old tapping to a rear-naked choke – a brutal reminder that the UFC is not the place to be ticking off goals for your bucket list.
If not for the likable local hero who dethroned a champion a few months ago, Cleveland’s sports title drought might not be over.
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“He got me in that front headlock, I felt fine”.
