Superfight won’t uproot grounded UFC star Miocic
Holloway out of 226 title bout with concussion woes
LAS VEGAS, July 5, (AP): Stipe Miocic has been the UFC’s heavyweight champion for more than two years, calmly dominating the most tumultuous division in mixed martial arts during a record three title defenses.
Yet deep in his core, the longestreigning heavyweight champ in UFC history has embraced the fact he’ll always feel like a firefighter from Cleveland whose life took an amazing detour.
Real life for Miocic (18-2) isn’t under the bright lights of Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. He’ll take a moment in that cage to appreciate the brilliant absurdity of being in a superfight against Cormier (20-1), the imposing light heavyweight champion, in the heavily anticipated main event of UFC 226 on Saturday night.
Real life is at home in Cleveland, where his pregnant wife is attempting to wait to deliver their first child until he gets home. Real life is in the firehouses in suburban Oakwood and Valley View where he still works as a firefighter and paramedic, fitting in several shifts each week between MMA training sessions.
The 35-year-old Miocic firmly believes he has kept the UFC heavyweight division locked down because he stayed in Cleveland and worked relentlessly to avoid both the trappings and the traps of success.
He won’t let it go to his head, but Miocic’s accomplishments in the heavyweight division are peerless at this point. After winning eight of his first 10 UFC bouts, he won the title by going to Brazil and knocking out Fabricio Werdum on his own turf. Miocic kept the belt by stopping decorated veterans Alistair Overeem and Junior Dos Santos, followed by a onesided victory last January over Francis Ngannou, whose meteoric rise was stopped cold by a champion who came in as an underdog.
Not bad for a former Cleveland State wrestler who basically stopped studying MMA for a full year while he completed his paramedic training.
His longtime coach, Marcus Marinelli, has been gratified to see Miocic’s ability to maximize the potential he saw so many years ago.
Miocic is making the biggest payday
Miocic
of his career Saturday, and the champ said he is finally “100 percent” happy with the UFC’s financial commitment to him. That wasn’t the case earlier this year, when his disappointment over a relatively meager check for his defense against Ngannou prompted him to take the belt from UFC President Dana White in the Boston cage so Marinelli could put it around his waist instead of White.
The family is about to get bigger: Miocic’s wife, Ryan, is due on Aug 1, but it could happen anytime. Ryan doesn’t plan to tell him if she goes into labor shortly before the fight, and Miocic could head home right after the fight on a private jet arranged by a sponsor.
Meanwhile, UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway’s representatives say he is dropping out of his title defense against Brian Ortega at UFC 226 this weekend due to apparent concussion symptoms.