Next in line for UFC Heavyweight belt
UFC News – At 34 UFC champion Stipe Miocic has already had his share of accomplishments.
But after claiming and defending the promotion’s heavyweight belt – both times in convincing first-round fashion – what gives Miocic (16-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) the fire to move forward?
“(To) keep winning,” Miocic told MMAjunkie Radio. “Keeping that belt for a long time. I have trained so hard for the past decade to be where I’m at. I’m not going to give it up. I train way too hard to give it up.”
After taking the title from Fabricio Werdum on enemy turf at UFC 198, Miocic solidified his reign in front of his Cleveland home crowd, taking out challenger Alistair Overeem in the first-round of their UFC 203 headliner.
The heavyweight belt is historically a difficult one to keep; the record number of defenses currently stands at a mere two. Which means that, should Miocic defend it twice more, he would officially become a record-breaker – a thought that he sees much like an inevitability.
“Well, I’m going to do it,” Miocic said. “I’m on my way. Like I said, I’m keeping the belt for a long time. Not trying to be tacky, but I trained way too hard to give this thing up, and I’m not giving it up for a while.”
Before thinking of a third title defense, however, Miocic needs to get through his second. And that’s still up in the air. While the matchup between ex-champs Werdum and Cain Velasquez at UFC 207 seems like the most likely indicator of the next challenger, former titleholder Junior Dos Santos has also been making his case (check out the video above).
Even though a fight with Dos Santos, who was recently booked for a UFC Fight Night 105 headliner with Stefan Struve, would mean a chance to get back one of his only two octagon setbacks, Miocic is indifferent when it comes to his next opponent. After all, he’s pretty sure he can beat any of them.
“I really don’t care who I fight,” Miocic said. “They haven’t really asked me, but I don’t care who it is – if it’s Cain, Werdum or JDS. I think it’s going to be a great fight, and I match up well with all three of them, so whoever they put in front of me (is fine).
“Listen, I’m going to keep that belt for a long time, so it doesn’t matter who it is. I’m going to win.”
While he thinks big in the octagon, Miocic said that in everyday life, his head is where it’s always been. And, even if it weren’t, he’d have his colleagues at the fire station, where he still works part time, to keep him in check.
“I’m the same guy,” Miocic said. “I go to the station. I get checked there every day. I’m a young guy, so they tell me what to do and go clean some toilets and go mop some floors. Nothing’s changed. I’m the champ. I’m the same guy that wakes up at 7 in the morning and get my wife coffee, and go to work, and if I have to, I clean the house.”
Category: Mixed Martial Arts
