Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, in front of his fervent home support, was flattened early in the first round by Alistair Overeem, who then himself was knocked out before going on to wrongly claim post-fight he actually won the fight due to a phantom Miocic tap to a guillotine choke.
Advertisement
Miocic escaped that submission soon enough, and while he appeared slightly shaken up at first, he landed a flurry of blows, working toward pushing Overeem toward the fence and eventually landing a big takedown. Then, Miocic rained down several punches, bouncing Overeem’s head off the canvas twice before he was knocked out.
When the fight was stopped, Miocic ran and climbed the cage, a move he had planned for months. Punk attempted to squirm away from his relentless ground and pound but once Gall had his back, the writing was on the wall and he locked in a rear-naked choke to get the tap with just two minutes and fourteen seconds on the clock. “I just like to take challenges”.
“I know my kill stuff would be more than his kill stuff”, he said.
Elsewhere on the Main Card, Fabricio Werdum defeated Travis Browne by unanimous decision after three explosive five-minute rounds.
“I don’t remember tapping out”, Miocic said.
Got hurt early, Mr. Miocic got his bearing as the fight wore on and managed to finish Mr. Overeem in the 4:27 mark of the opening round. I don’t know what happens from here on out. “It was a good fight”, said Mr. Werdum (21-6) amid a rain of boos from fans at the Cleveland arena who were supporting hometown bet Miocic. “I popped out, he didn’t like it, and then he gave me the opportunity to grab his leg, so I followed him and right when I got on top of him, game over”.
Just climbing the steps into the octagon was something of a victory for Punk, who became a villain of sorts inside UFC circles as fans, wrestlers and fellow fighters questioned his motives for taking up a new sport with no experience.
“Obviously, Mickey’s a hell of a fighter”.
Advertisement
“My initial venture into this was gonna be at the lowest level”, Punk said at the post-fight press conference. “This was the most fun I’ve had in my life, second best night of my life after marrying my wife”. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.
