Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic‘s last loss inside the Octagon came to Junior dos Santos by decision in December 2014. On Saturday, in the UFC 211 main event in Dallas, Texas, Miocic exacted his revenge by putting the former titleholder away in the first round.
The record for the most times any heavyweight champion had successfully defended the title is two. Andrei Arlovski, Randy Couture, Tim Sylvia, Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez all defended their titles twice. Miocic has now added his name to that list.
Miocic stalked dos Santos in the rematch at American Airlines Center. Dos Santos saw success with leg kicks, but the fight didn’t last long enough for them to add up. Miocic pressed forward and dos Santos put his back against the cage like he’s been known to do. It was his undoing. Miocic stepped in with a right hand midway through the opening round that face planted the Brazilian. He followed up with a series of left hands delivered in rapid succession forcing referee Herb Dean to intervene and stop the fight.
“It was terrible. It hurt. The one time I check it, it hurt his foot the one time I checked it,” said Miocic about dos Santos’ leg kicks.
“We’ve been working that for ten weeks,” he said about the right hand that ended the fight. “My coach is the best in the world. That’s the reason that I’m the champion.”
Miocic declined to call out a next opponent. He said that he doesn’t care who he fights next. Whoever the UFC decides to put in front of him, he’s fine with accepting the challenge.
