The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
A look at potential opponents for Miocic
Now that Stipe Miocic is the UFC heavyweight champion again, the big question is: Who will he face next? Mark Podolski has a look at some candidates.
Stipe Miocic shook his head in his post-fight news conference in the early hours of Aug. 18.
That’s because as soon as he reclaimed the UFC heavyweight title with a fourth-round knockout of the champ Daniel Cormier on Aug. 17 at UFC 241 in Anaheim, Calif., he was peppered with questions about who he might fight next.
“That’s the No. 1 question every time I win the belt,” said Miocic. “Who you gonna fight next? ... I just bought a new home. Gonna go in the hot tub, the pool, let my body rest, and figure it out from there.”
Miocic didn’t seem concerned about who’s potentially next for the start of his second stint as heavyweight champ, but it likely won’t take long for those talks to heat up. From May 2016 to July 2018, Miocic was the champ and defended his belt a UFC heavyweight record three consecutive times.
There appears to be three options next for Miocic:
• A rematch with Cormier, who fell to 22-2 with the loss Aug. 17, that would make a trilogy between the two;
• Another rematch, this time against top contender Francis Ngannou, who Miocic (19-3) beat by five-round unanimous decision in early 2018, or;
• A match against light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who who would need to bump up from 205 pounds to take on Miocic. After he beat Cormier, Jones tweeted Miocic is “hands down the greatest heavyweight of all time.”
UFC president Dana White addressed Miocic, Cormier and Ngannu in a post-fright interview with ESPN.
“Maybe there’s a trilogy out there,” said White in the post fight.
“Maybe Cormier retires. Does that fight happen with (Francis) Ngannou and Stipe? Who knows.”
Cormier, 40, said before the rematch with Miocic he would entertain the thought of retirement but the chance of potentially redeeming himself and winning back the belt could be enticing.
“A lot of times we base decisions on emotions,” said Cormier in his post fight. “I don’t want to be that guy ... we’ll figure out what’s next.”
A third Cormier-Miocic bout could be a boon for the UFC. Fans and commentators were raving about the Aug. 17 super fight, which had plenty of action. It was an all-time show between the big guys.
The 304 significant strikes Miocic and Cormier combined to throw set a record for UFC heavyweights in a title bout. Another interesting fact — Cormier had 58 more significant strikes during the bout than Miocic but still lost.
“It makes sense,” said White about the possibility of Cormier-Miocic 3. “It absolutely makes sense. If both guys wanted that, then yeah.”