CLEVELAND -- UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic is proud of his Cleveland roots, and that is why he chose to continue training at Strong Style Gym in Independence rather than traveling to other parts of the country to prepare for fights with bigger, more well-known teams.
And now, Miocic stands to defend his championship against Alistair Overeem at the top of the card for UFC 203 at Quicken Loans Arena on Saturday, September 10, the debut event in Cleveland for the world’s preeminent mixed martial arts promotion.
“Oh man, hopefully, the roof stays on,” Miocic said with a laugh. “It’s going to be crazy.”
The UFC has not held a pay-per-view event in Ohio since UFC 96 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on March 7, 2009.
Previously, the UFC held three pay-per-view events in Columbus, as well as one at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati on October 20, 2007. The last time the UFC held any event in Ohio was on May 10, 2014, when they hosted a Fight Night special in Cincinnati.
“Defending the UFC title in Cleveland for the first time, it doesn’t get any better than that. I knew it was a possibility. They’ve been talking for a while now about coming here, and I think that just gave them more incentive to come.”
After claiming the heavyweight championship with a first-round knockout of Fabricio Werdum in front of 45,000 fans at UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil, last month, Miocic was welcomed home by a crowd of people at the airport, and then, appeared at Cavaliers playoff games.
Following his title victory, Miocic called for the Cavaliers to follow suit and win the NBA Championship, and win they did, in historic fashion. When it came time to celebrate the Cavaliers’ title with a Championship Parade and Rally, organizers put Miocic at the front of the line on Wednesday.
“I had no idea until the night before,” said Miocic. “Of course, I jumped on it. It was a great achievement to be a part of that.”
Although the Cavaliers played Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, Miocic wanted to be downtown to soak up the atmosphere, and watching the hometown team not only become the first team in NBA history to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the championship, but also, break the city’s 52-year major sports title curse, was a moment he won’t soon forget.
“We were down at the FWD nightclub,” Miocic said. “We were watching the game with all of the fans down there. I think it was all shell-shock for all of us. Everyone was going crazy. Champagne was flying everywhere. They were throwing champagne, and it was probably one of the greatest moments in sports history.”
Although Miocic and the city of Cleveland have plenty of positive momentum heading into UFC 203, Overeem feels ready to put that to an end.
“My last fight was in Holland,” Overeem said. “I was the favorite. The whole place was going crazy. This will probably be reverse. I’ll be in enemy territory, but I’m actually excited about that too. I like to do cool things. If there’s somebody who could get the job done, it’s going to be me.”
But Miocic is focused on making sure that does not happen.
“There’s a lot of things, great things going on,” Miocic said. “Getting to be a part of the parade was pretty amazing, something I never thought I would be a part of, but I’m still training, still getting my daily workouts in, so that’s all I care about. I can’t wait until September.”
