Stipe Miocic, at 39, is no stranger to the ups, downs, and detours of a professional fighting career. He hasn’t fought since losing his heavyweight title to Francis Ngannou earlier this year, and with Ciryl Gane emerging as the prime contender in the division, it seems he’ll have to wait a little longer to get his belt back.
The UFC’s heavyweight division has crowned two champions – Ngannou and Gane – in the same year, leaving a mess for Miocic to wade through. Miocic spoke to MMAFighting.com about his future with the UFC and the chaos of the heavyweight division. His number one priority? Returning to the top.
Miocic on UFC Future: “I just want to get my belt back”
“I just want to get my belt back.
That’s all I’ve really thought about. I haven’t really worried about retirement. I’m having fun, and as long as my body feels good and I’m having fun, we’ll keep going.” Miocic’s exclusion from the interim title bout between Gane and Derrick Lewis also weighed on the former champ.
“That was the UFC’s decision. It’s not mine. I wish I would’ve gotten a call offering me the fight. I never got one, but it is what it is. I probably wouldn’t be able to take it anyway, but it would’ve been nice just to be offered it. But there’s just so much going on. There’s a lot of moving parts, I guess you would say.
I’m going to sit down with Dana here in September and kind of figure out what’s the next gameplan and what we’re going to do.”
Miocic is no stranger to the doubt and uncertainty of waiting in the wings, but he remains steadfast in his conviction that he should fight Francis Ngannou for the heavyweight title. It just means he might wait longer than he wants to for the chance to reclaim the heavyweight strap.
“It happens all the time. I mean, it’s pretty much my [entire career]. That’s fine with me. Maybe because I’m too nice. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I don’t talk sh*t. I don’t know if I talk enough smack or I’m not a trash-talker, I don’t know. Who knows?”
As for if he’ll make any changes against Francis Ngannou, the world’s hardest puncher, next time around, Miocic was mercurial. “There’s a lot of things.
Even if you win, there’s a lot of things you can do for adjustments and stuff like that. And I see a lot of things I did well and a lot of things I did right, but listen, at the end of the day I got knocked out.”
Do you want to see Stipe Miocic take one last run at the heavyweight title before he retires? Let us know in the comments.
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