CLEVELAND -- Following his UFC record third consecutive defense of the heavyweight championship, Cleveland native Stipe Miocic took the unorthodox step of grabbing the belt out of the hands of company president Dana White and handing it to his head coach, Marcus Marinelli, to wrap around his waist.
After earning a dominant unanimous-decision victory over top contender Francis Ngannou in the main event of UFC 220 at TD Garden in Boston Saturday night, Miocic broke from the tradition of having White wrap the belt around him out of respect for Marinelli.
“My dude, that dude respects me. I respect him. End of story,” the normally jovial Miocic said flatly.
“Where’s my coach at? Those dudes right there? My family. They all respect me. I respect them. They come with me, we go to war. No matter what happens, win, lose or draw, that’s my family. We all respect each other no matter what the situation is.”
Prior to the fight, the UFC heavily promoted Ngannou because of his one-punch knockout power, but Miocic put the challenger on the mat for much of the fight, thus neutralizing the punching prowess and forcing the contender to adapt or struggle.
However, the disrespect Miocic felt started long before the fight against Ngannou, whom had his power compared by White to that of a Ford Escort going full speed.
In his previous two title defenses, Miocic was paid significantly less than his challengers, and voiced his displeasure in national interviews. That perceived lack of respect has motivated Miocic to remain at the top of his division and do something no other fighter has done in UFC history, have three successful defenses of the heavyweight title.
“I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing,” Miocic said. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Honestly, I don’t care. I’ve got so much on my plate right now. I’m so happy. I have a beautiful wife that has our child. I’m very lucky. I’ve got my coaches here. They’re amazing.
“Listen, man, I’m not worried about repairing anything (with White). I don’t know. I called him out when he was talking about we were butting heads. I called him out on that. It was pretty funny. I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ He denied it.”
According to FightMetric, Miocic was successful with six of his 14 takedown attempts (42 percent) against Ngannou, and used those one-sided advantages in control and total strikes to negate any edge in power from an opponent who was unbeaten in his first six UFC bouts.
Miocic held control of Ngannou for 15 of the 25 minutes in the title fight, and while in the clinch and guard, he landed most of his 200 strikes. Known as a judicious fighter, Miocic connected on 200 of his 244 strikes (82 percent) and 70 of his 95 significant attempts (74 percent).
Conversely, Ngannou landed just 33 strikes in the entire bout and failed to lock in his only submission attempt.
“Listen, man, I’ve got the fighting spirit, bro,” Miocic said. “It’s going to take a lot more to take me out. A Ford Escort, a Ford F-150, I don’t really care. I’m going to keep coming. He’s a tough dude, no question. He’s got a great career ahead, tough dude, but listen, man, I’ve got that fighting spirit. I ain’t going to stop. Daily grind.”