UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic made UFC history over the weekend. On Saturday night, Jan. 20, Miocic headlined UFC 220 in Boston, Massachusetts.
The fighter faced off against rising title challenger Francis Ngannou. The two heavyweight warriors entered a brutal five round battle for the belt, with Miocic ultimately earning a dominant unanimous decision victory.
The reigning heavyweight champion is now in the UFC books, as Miocic broke the record for most consecutive heavyweight title defenses by earning three in total. When asked if he feels he deserves to be called the greatest heavyweight champion in UFC history, Miocic had quite the response.
“F*ck yeah I do,” Miocic said. The fighter then continued:
“No one’s ever defended it three times. I’ve done it and I had a killers row of fighters to get to it. I had a hard path to get to the title, and I’ve had a hard path to defend the title. I had top dudes. I had to fight (Andrei) Arlovski, then I had to fight (Fabricio) Werdum in Brazil in front of 45,000 people. Crazy. Next guy, (Alistair) Overeem, killer, K-1 champ, hits like a ton of bricks. Next guy, ‘JDS’ (Junior dos Santos), who I lost to. Now I got a guy who’s a phenom. Nothing’s ever easy. I know fighting ain’t easy, but I never had an easy road. Everything was hard.”
Speaking on Ngannou’s knockout power from the fight, Miocic added:
“I felt that in the first round. I feel like he couldn’t put me away in that first round and I could see it, his will was dwindling away. He’s a tough dude, there’s no question. He’s really good, but I felt his will dwindling away. I could see it in his face. He couldn’t believe I was still there.
“Listen man, I’ve got the fighting spirit. It’s going to take a lot more to take me out. Ford Escort, Ford F-150, I don’t really care, I’m going to keep coming. He’s a tough dude, there’s no question, he’s got a great career ahead of him. He’s a tough dude, but listen, man, I’ve got that fighting spirit and I ain’t going to stop. Daily grind.”
