OH native Miocic made the third defence of his heavyweight crown in the main event of UFC 220, which took place at the TD Garden in Boston in the early hours of the morning.
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With the win, Miocic is now the longest reigning heavyweight champion in UFC history surpassing a laundry list of legends including Randy Couture, Mark Coleman and Brock Lesnar, who were never able to defend the title more than two times.
To find another heavyweight championship fight that felt this big, this significant, you would have to go all the way back to late 2011, when Cain Velasquez lost his belt to Junior dos Santos in the main event of the first ever UFC on FOX show. Ngannou came into the bout coming off of one of the nastiest knockouts in UFC history, when he ended Alistair Overeem’s evening with a brutal uppercut just one month ago.
The win was 35-year-old’s the sixth straight while Ngannou had his 10-fight winning streak of stoppage wins snapped. Without much action the ref broke them up, restarting the pair in the center of the octagon. Miocic survived the storm that Ngannou threw at him and then he systematically drained Ngannou’s energy by making him carry his weight.
Say that to the challenger for the belt this weekend, Francis Ngannou, and he’ll say “Don’t lie, Stipe”. Ngannou struggles to get up and they end up tied up by the cage with Miocic holding Ngannou down. After a small exchange, Miocic shot in, driving Ngannou across the cage and to his back. He looks for more, though doesn’t quite connect. But he eventually found his rhythm, landing a wide left hook that left Oezdemier wincing and batting his right eye. Current champion Stipe Miocic will face … After momentarily threatening with a guillotine, Miocic released and Ngannou as the two fighters made their way back to their feet.
It’s fitting that Miocic and Cormier defended their belts in what’s become known as the “City of Champions”, because no two men or women embody the meaning of word more. Miocic finished off the round with another takedown against the fence. This wasn’t Jones’ first positive drug test, and Cormier how Jones’ failed tests tarnished the validity of their fights.
KEY QUOTE – Miocic: “He caught me in the first round”. He used his superior wrestling and grappling to score takedowns throughout the 25 minutes, controlling and wearing his opponent down on the ground. Miocic started chopping Ngannou’s legs with kicks. In the clinch next, Ngannou tried to explode out and Miocic drove him to the mat.
Even with ferocious heavyweight puncher Francis Ngannou on the card in the main event, it’s going to be hard for any fighter to top Razak Alhassan’s KO.
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From there, Cormeir secured the takedown and almost closed off a choke as the first round elapsed. Miocic on top in half guard began raining down shots. Once back on the feet though, Miocic once again found a home for the right hand, and a salvo of punches in the dying seconds of the stanza nearly all found their mark.
