UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic appeared recently on the Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette podcast and discussed the coming rematch vs. Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 on March 27.
Ngannou entered the first title shot having in just one year demolished Anthony Hamilton, Andrei Arlovski, and Alistair Overeem in a combined time of 5:11, earning two performance bonuses. Miocic won a Unanimous Decision, and became the first UFC heavyweight champion to successfully defend the title three times. Then Miocic lost the belt to Daniel Cormier, regained it, and successfully defended it, in a historic trilogy.
Ngannous lost his next fight, a fan-unfriendly UD to Derrick Lewis, but bounced back in unprecedented fashion. In an 18 month span, “The Predator” beat Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, and Jairzinho Rozenstruik in a combined time of 2:42, earning three performance bonuses.
It looks like the longtime Next Big Thing Ngannou has gotten far better still, but Miocic is unmoved.
Francis is a super tough guy, said the champ, as transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting. He’s been knocking everyone out again and he’s on a tear, and unfortunately he’s going to have to fight me again. That’s the bad part. He’s definitely gotten better, but so have I.
I know I’m getting old, but I’ve gotten wiser and I’m learning a few new tricks up my sleeve. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, which is a lie. I’ve learned a lot ever since the last fight which was a couple years ago. So yeah, it’s the same outcome. I’m going to walk out with the belt still wrapped around my waist – and still.
In the first fight, Miocic weathered some hellacious shots, and then pulled ahead with superior endurance and wrestling. Further, following the loss to Cormier, Miocic leaned down. He was 242.5 in the loss, 230.5 in the rematch, and 233 in the trilogy. The ten-pound difference resulted in an evident increase in speed, and Miocic plans to maintain that.
More timing and speed, said Miocic. Really just speed. It’s all about speed. I think speed kills and that’s something we’ve really worked on the last couple camps fighting ‘DC.’
The winner of the UFC 260 main will likely next face UFC GOAT candidate Jon Jones, who relinquished the light heavyweight belt to move up.
I heard that too), said Miocic. Listen, I’ll fight anyone. Right now though, the task at hand, the only thing I’m thinking about is Francis.
