Once again, reigning heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic finds himself on the wrong side of the UFC hype machine.
In his last title defense against Francis Ngannou, all the attention was on ‘The Predator’s’ knockout power and undefeated record, with little emphasis on Miocic’s stellar reign as champ.
And now, in the lead-up to his highly anticipated bout with current light heavyweight kingpin Daniel Cormier, Miocic’s accomplishments have taken second place to ‘DC’s’ ambition of becoming a simultaneous two-division champ.
However, Miocic plans to spoil the party and explicitly stated that Cormier will not be making ‘history’ off his back.
“He won’t make history off my back. I am going to keep it rolling, dude,” Miocic said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, per MMA Mania’s Adam Guillen Jr. “He ain’t breaking up my record, as long as I’m champ, no one else will be champ. All you are going to hear is ‘and still,’ and I am going to walk out of the Octagon with my belt around my waist and nothing is changing.”
Miocic, who turns 36 in August, also said he ‘100-percent’ plans to retire as heavyweight champ, although he gave no timeline for his retirement.
The part-time firefighter is currently ranked at No. 2 in the official UFC pound-for-pound rankings, and his stock will rise considerably if he beats Cormier next month.
UFC 226: Miocic vs. Cormier takes place July 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.