CLEVELAND -- UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic has successfully defended his title a record three consecutive times, and he plans to keep that streak going.
The Cleveland-based mixed martial artist will take on light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 226, and is confident the string of successful championship defenses will continue when they meet at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 7.
“Most title defenses in heavyweight history,” Miocic tweeted. “And another one coming soon…July 7!
Miocic continues to defy the odds and make those who bet against him regret their decisions.
Despite being an underdog once again, Miocic, a graduate of Eastlake North High School, is still the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion of the world after a dominant unanimous-decision win over top-ranked contender Francis Ngannou in the main event of UFC 220 at TD Garden in Boston on January 20.
In his five previous fights, Miocic won by knockout or technical knockout, and four of those bouts ended in the first round. It was the first time Miocic went five rounds in a title fight, and only the third time in his career that he had gone past the fourth.
Owner of the record for the most consecutive defenses of the UFC heavyweight championship, Miocic won the bout, 50-44, on all three of the judges' scorecards.
According to FightMetric, Miocic was successful with six takedown attempts and used his superior wrestling to build one-sided advantages in control and total strikes against the 263-pound Ngannou, who entered the fight unbeaten in his first six UFC bouts.
Miocic held control of Ngannou for 15 of the 25 minutes in The Octagon, and while in the clinch and guard, he landed many 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.
Including the win over Ngannou, Miocic is on a six-fight winning streak. Miocic is 18-2 in his professional career and 12-2 in 14 bouts under the UFC banner.
Prior to and following UFC 220, Cormier repeatedly denied wanting to move up to heavyweight in the UFC. However, following a successful defense of his title against Volkan Oezdemir in Boston, the 5-foot-11, 205-pound Cormier is going up to heavyweight after previous competing in the division in other organizations.
Cormier enters the super-fight with a 20-1-0 record with one no-contest in nine years as a mixed martial artist.
Cormier won the heavyweight championship in multiple organizations, including XMMA in just his third professional bout, and then, in King of the Cage before going on to claim the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grind Prix championship in 2012.
In his third UFC fight, Cormier moved down to light-heavyweight and has remained there since, going on to win the championship, which he has successfully defended twice and retained after a loss to Jon Jones was moved to a no-contest when Jones failed a post-fight test for steroids.
