UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic put on a dominant performance over Francis Ngannou in the main event of UFC 220 on Saturday night, Jan. 20. After Miocic’s criticism of the UFC’s allegedly unfair bias towards Ngannou in the promotion for the event, the heavyweight title holder did something unexpected directly after the fight.
While UFC President Dana White generally places the UFC title around the waist of the winning fighter inside the octagon, Miocic grabbed the belt from White and gave it to his coach to do instead.
Speaking in the UFC 220 post-fight press conference, Miocic offered his reasoning for the decision.
“(He’s) my dude,” Miocic said, speaking on his coach. “He respects me and I respect him. End of story”
“I don’t know and I don’t really care,” The champion stated, when asked if he considered Dana White’s position in the situation.
“Where’s my coach at? Those dudes right there are my family. They all respect me and I respect them. They come with me. We go to war no matter what – win, lose or draw. That’s my family. We all respect each other no matter what the situation is.”
“No man, we’ll keep doing what we do,” Miocic stated when asked if he would like to be promoted differently.
“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I don’t really care. Honestly, I’ve got so much on my plate right now. I’m so happy with my beautiful wife and our child. I’m very lucky, I’ve got my coaches here and they’re amazing. Listen man, I don’t worry about repairing anything. I don’t know.
“I called him out when he said that we were butting heads. I called him out on that it was pretty funny. He was saying ‘What are you talking about?’ So, I don’t know.
“He denied it,” Miocic said when asked how Dana White reacted to his earlier criticism.
