Stipe Miocic Beats Daniel Cormier, Retains the UFC Heavyweight Title

Stipe Miocic retained the UFC heavyweight title after defeating Daniel Cormier in the main event of the UFC 252. The referees scored unanimously in the champion’s favor, 49-46, 49-46, 48-47, this handing him his second straight win over Cormier.

“Honestly, DC is a Hall of Famer, one of the best,” Miocic said. “He made me better.”

In a solid match that justified the status of the most anticipated this year, Miocic (20-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) was better than Cormier (22-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC), who, apart from opening the bout pretty well, wasn’t that dangerous for the champion.

DC came out strong, catching Miocic on the backfoot and inflicting him a hard hit, which shook the rival. Stipe got out of that position without any consequences, and slowly started to impose his rhythm as time went by.

The trilogy and the UFC heavyweight strap go to Stipe Miocic 🏆 #UFC252 pic.twitter.com/Klc2uQ7sLX

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 16, 2020

That was obvious in the second round once he slowly began to increase the tempo. He would strike DC in the jaw, forcing him to wobble around the octagon and fight for his life. As many predicted, after rebuffing the initial surge of his opponent, Miocic began to seize the control on the battlefield and to build an advantage on the scorecards.

On the other hand, DC didn’t have too many chances to hurt Stipe, even though he tried to get back into the match. Miocic meanwhile, used all the advantage of the narrower and smaller octagon at the UFC Apex facility, closing down the distance between him and Cormier each time the challenger tried to do something. Also, his body shots were more than effective, and he used them throughout the entire bout.

Miocic won for the second straight time against Cormier, settling their trilogy in his favor and clearing all doubts about his place among the best heavyweights in the UFC history. This was his 6th title fight in this division, and only Randy Couture has more.

For sure, Miocic will break that record if everything goes well, as he already has a challenger who anxiously waited to see who will come out as a winner from this contest. Francis Ngannou craves for his second chance against the 37-year old from Ohio, and as stated before, he is the next in line to fight Stipe. The Predator lost the first meeting and seeks revenge now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyHjp18A1hY

The only thing which might interrupt his plans is a potential battle between Jon Jones and Miocic. It is something which was in the air for a long time, and there were some talks that Bones might face the winner of tonight’s fight.

As for DC, he confirmed the decision about retirement following this match. The 41-year old veteran and the only person in the UFC history who held the heavyweight and the light heavyweight title at the same time, stated that he withdraws from the professional sport.

“I don’t think there’s a title in my future,” Cormier said. “That will be it for me. I’ve had a long run, I just fought for the heavyweight championship. It was a great fight.”

In other fights of the UFC 252 spectacle, we saw Jairzinho Rozenstruik bouncing back following his defeat to Ngannou. Bigi Boy was convincing against the former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos, posting a win via TKO in the second round.

Marlon Vera beat Sean O’Malley also via TKO, and Daniel Pineda did the sam against Herbert Burns.