Thanks to his consistency and longevity, Stipe
Miocic is one of the greatest heavyweight champions the UFC has
ever seen.
His second reign came to an end on Saturday night, as he was
knocked out by Francis
Ngannou in the second round of their headlining clash at UFC
260 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Miocic fell awkwardly after being
hit with the decisive blow, but in a statement released on his
Instagram page Monday assured everyone that he is in relatively
good health following the defeat.
“First and foremost, I’m ok. I know that fall wasn’t my most
graceful fall, but I was unconscious, so it happens,” Miocic
wrote.
“To my family friends and fans, especially Croatia and Cleveland …
I love you and I’m sorry. I hate letting you down. To my team,
thank you. I know you feel every loss just as much as I do. We win
as a family, we lose as a family. Losses aren’t fun, they always
sting for a while, but that’s the beast of this business,” he
continued. “You can’t win them all, and it’s important to
understand that losing is just as much a part of sports (and life)
as winning. Don’t ever forget God will always put you where you’re
meant to be at that exact moment. You can’t dwell on what you
should have done better, but you can learn and improve from it and
come back more prepared next time.”
During his first championship reign, Miocic earned a clear-cut
unanimous decision over Ngannou at UFC 220 in January 2018. In that
bout, Miocic tired his heavy-handed opponent out with wrestling and
takedowns. When Ngannou denied the Strong Style Fight Team
representative’s attempt to take the action to the mat in Round 1
at UFC 260, it set the tone for a different type of fight. Still,
Miocic believes that had the bout gone longer, he would have been
able to wear “The Predator” down once again. Instead, he got
caught.
“Unfortunately, I deviated from game plan. I felt great coming into
the second round, I saw it was beginning to go as planned,” Miocic
wrote. “He was getting very winded, and I came in over zealous and
unprotected. I wasn’t in a good posture to take the hit. He saw the
opening, and did what any great fighter would have done.
“That was my error that I accept, it wont happen again. Lastly, I’d
like to congratulate [Francis Ngannou] and his team on a well
earned victory. Saturday night was your night, enjoy your victory!
For now, I’m going to enjoy the down time, spend some time with my
family, and welcome our son into the world this summer… stay
tuned, God bless.”
The 38-year-old Miocic holds promotional records at heavyweight for
most consecutive title defenses and victories in championship
fights. His resume includes wins over the likes of Daniel
Cormier (twice), Ngannou, Junior dos
Santos, Alistair
Overeem, Fabricio
Werdum, Andrei
Arlovski, Mark Hunt and
Roy
Nelson, among others.