Stipe Miocic: From Firefighter to UFC Heavyweight Champion

Stipe Miocic: From Firefighter to UFC Heavyweight Champion

By Dan McConnell

At UFC 226 this weekend UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic (18-2) puts his belt on the line against the current Light-Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier (20-1) But who really is Stipe Miocic?

Stipe Miocic was born and raised in Cleveland Ohio, the son of Croatian immigrants which is why you may have seen him wear fight shorts with the Croatian flag on them before the Reebok deal or just wondering where his name originated from.

From an early age he got into Baseball, American Football and Wrestling while in High school but in 2005 his interest was sparked with Mixed Martial Arts. Stipe was brought in as a training partner to wrestle in Strong Style MMA, Ohio. He trained MMA but changed to boxing under Head Coach Marcus Marinelli who has recalled that although Stipe only trained for several months he was beating boxers with more experience. After only eight months of training with a background of being a Cleveland Golden Gloves Boxing Champion and NCAA Division One Wrestler at Cleveland State, Miocic fully began his MMA career.

This career path was the start of building a champion. Stipe fought for a Ohio based MMA promotion called North American Allied Fight Series (NAAFS) where we won his first six fights by knockout and became NAAFS Heavyweight Champion in June 2011. The UFC came calling for this undefeated prospect and he made his UFC debut just a few months later in February of 2012 at UFC 136 with a unanimous decision win over Joey Beltran.

Stipe Miocic slowly climbed the ranks within the UFC with victories over Roy Nelson, Gabriel Gonzaga and Fabio Maldonado all back to back. He was defeated by Stefan Struve and Junior Dos Santos with these the only losses in his career and an opportunity to learn from his mistakes.

Throughout his MMA career he works as a part-time Firefighter in Oakwood and Valley View Ohio. From learning about the UFC Champions background, it is clear that he focuses on his community aspect and doing the best for them.

Miocic went on to defeat Mark Hunt and Andrei Arlovski before facing the current UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabricio Werdum in his back garden in Brazil at UFC 198. Stipe knocked-out Werdum with a clean short punch that switched the lights off for Werdum in the first round. Stipe Miocic won the performance of the night bonus and took the title home to Clevland, Ohio.

Stipe faced former Strikeforce and Dream Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem at UFC 203 in Clevland Ohio for the first defence of his new-found title. The Ohio native knocked out ‘The Reem’ to cement his place as the Heavyweight Champion. He went on to face Junior Dos Santos in which he got revenge for his defeat he suffered back in 2014 with another knockout victory in the first round.

His last fight was tagged for the title ‘baddest man on the planet’ where he faced a fighter who has been on a tear throughout the Heavyweight division and was seen as possible kryptonite in Francis Ngannou. The man nicknamed ‘The Predator’ who has the hardest punching power within the division. After a tough 25 minutes inside the octagon Stipe was able to nullify Ngannou’s strikes in the early stages of the fight to win via unanimous decision and has successfully earned the title ‘baddest man on the planet’ and broke the record for most consecutive UFC Heavyweight title defences (3).

Stipe Miocic is set to take on the current UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion and former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Daniel ‘DC’ Cormier in a dream super-fight this Saturday night. Will Stipe overcome this next challenge in his quest to stay top of the mountain?