Former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic has not fought in over two years, but according to Miocic’s old foe, Daniel “DC” Cormier, the big man “has never looked better.”
Ahead of Miocic’s return to the Octagon, where he will face reigning heavyweight champ Jon Jones at UFC 295, Cormier revealed on his YouTube channel that the 40-year old fighter is in excellent shape.
Stipe Miocic “Has Never Looked Better” Ahead Of UFC 295 Fight Against Jon Jones
“I think the best Miocic is in the mid-240s and he’s saying now that he’s back around that weight. I spoke to someone in the Miocic camp and they told me he’s never looked better. He looks huge, he looks big, he looks strong. Now, is that gonna be enough? I don’t know. I’m just giving you this information.
I’m pulling the curtain back so you guys can understand that expect the Stipe Miocic from the title run opposed to the guy we saw later. The small guy, the skinny guy.”
Miocic will enter the Octagon as a massive underdog against Jon Jones, which Cormier believes could be an asset. The “chip” on Miocic’s shoulder, says Cormier, led him to three consecutive victories over “DC” back in the day, and may well prove fruitful once again against Jon Jones.
“Stipe Miocic isn’t a guy who lives a big life publically but he carries that chip when you start to doubt him. I remember sitting at press conferences with Miocic and he would say these things like that. ‘Okay, doubt me,’ and he would almost smirk because he knew what most in the public didn’t know.
The way he was training, the way he was preparing, and his intent in the fight. Obviously, he beat me two times back-to-back when he was saying those things and I would almost brush them off because you take his personality and you take him for granted.
You forget he’s one of the most dangerous men on the planet. But again, he’s carrying that chip.”Jon Jones returned from a lengthy layoff of his own to obliterate Cyril Gane in his heavyweight debut.
Jones submitted Gane in the first round, claiming the heavyweight title in the process. Daniel Cormier believes the Miocic fight will be a very different affair.
“How does my man Jones look in an actual fight? Because he’ll get a fight this time. He’ll have to go rounds. If he doesn’t, boy, if this guy, if either of these guys wipes the other one out it would be jaw-dropping.
I would be as shocked as I was when Sean Strickland beat Israel Adesanya.”
