LAS VEGAS – The breakthrough for UFC 252’s major event for heavyweight titles in the main could not have been more intriguing. It was a “perfect storm” of circumstances, according to UFC President Dana White.
A series tied at 1-1, with Stipe Miocic, the only man to ever defend the UFC’s heavyweight championship for the next time, and Daniel Cormier, the only man to have beaten Miocic ever in a championship fight.
Cormier knocked Miocic out to grab the 2018 title. Miocic returned the advantage to win it back in 2019.
That, Saturday was for all marbles – not just a UFC belt, but eternal bragging rights for the winner and the distinction of greatest UFC heavyweight of all time. And oh, above all, it would also serve as the final battle of Cormier’s career. No one knew how the night would go, only that it would not disappoint.
There was no knockout this time, but Miocic won a very combative battle by unanimous decision. Here are five critical aspects from the most important fight in UFC heavyweight history.
The rounds close
The fight consisted of five close, competitive rounds. According to UFC Stats, Miocic landed 115 major strikes in the bout. Cormier arrived 105th.
In rounds that close, moments can mean anything. Visible damage means everything. And Cormier first struck in the opening round when he stepped Miocic with his right hand, just moments before the clock.
That shot ruined what Miocic was a very good round up to that point. And two of the three judges scored it for Cormier.
But should you not know, the same thing happened in the very next round, with the roles reversed. Cormier outlanded Miocic in the second round, but Miocic dropped him with a wide right cross in the final 10 seconds to steal the round on all three-judge scorecards.
“Did I fall?” Cormier asked his corner in between the second and third rounds. “Did I fall?”
“No,” replied his coach, Bob Cook. “But I need you to get your head in this game.”
‘I can not see’
1:27
Daniel Cormier analyzes his loss to Stipe Miocic for the title of heavyweight, where Cormier claims he has seen problems through an eyeball. (edited)
It took a whole year for the UFC to book Saturday’s trilogy fight, and the main reason for the delay was Miocic’s eyes. He required eye surgery in 2020 after sustaining injuries caused by eye paws during his 2019 bout against Cormier. Miocic told ESPN prior to the fight that he intended to bring the topic of eye pox to the referee.
It did not take long for that story to affect the third fight. Cormier poked Miocic in the left eye in the first round.
“My bad, bro,” Cormier said immediately after the foul. Miocic eventually went through.
Immediately in the third round, Cormier turned her pain away from Miocic, and as the clock ticked to complete the round, Cormier yelled in the direction of referee Marc Goddard that he was caught. Cormier was shocked when he returned to his corner, and even asked Goddard to run back to him and say, “Daniel, you are punched. Sit down, my friend.”
Acceptance. pic.twitter.com/JMNjKPzURz
– Marc Goddard (@marcgoddard_uk) August 16, 2020
Repetitions, however, would show that Miocic’s left hand was open during one of the punches, and his outstretched fingers dug into Cormier’s left eye. After the fight, Cormier refused to complain about Miocic’s intentions within that moment, but he was still blatantly heated about the offense.
“I mean f —, look into my eye,” Cormier said after the attack. “I can’t see out of my left eye. It’s black. It’s black. It’s what it is. It does not matter.”
“I felt bad,” Miocic said. “But it was not intentional. I said to him, ‘sorry,’ during the fight. What are you going to do? He did it to me multiple times. What was wrong with me was already. Honestly, I did not know I had him in. grabbed his eye until I looked up and saw the replay and said, ‘Oh, I’d grabbed him completely in the eye. My bad.’ “
By the end of the night, Cormier would tell ESPN that he had been diagnosed with a tornado, and Goddard would give a public apology for missing the mass.
The clinch
0:47
Chael Sonnen Breaks Support Miocic Vs. Daniel Cormier goes down and explains what made the difference in Miocic’s unanimous victory.
Miocic beat Cormier in the second meeting for the most part by an adjustment of the midfight – a decision to rip Cormier’s body with his left hand. He made another important adjustment of the midfight in the third fight – the working of the clinch.
About 90 seconds into the third round, Miocic’s corner told him to stab Cormier in the fist and keep him there. That position became Miocic’s favorite the rest of the way, as he kept Cormier in the clinch for extended stretches of time in the third, fourth, and fifth rounds.
In the immediate aftermath of the fight, Cormier acknowledged that the deciding factor may have been in a very close fight. Judges eventually scored it for Miocic 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47.
“I believe the close rounds separated,” Cormier said.
Where was the wrestling?
The smaller cow in the UFC Apex facility was from target Cormier, the stronger wrestler and a former Olympian. And after leaving wrestling in his second fight against Miocic, Cormier on Saturday promised not to make the same mistake.
“I love fighting at the Apex,” Cormier said earlier this summer on ESPN’s DC & Helwani Show. “That old leg will be right for me to grab. If you want to see a 25-minute stand-up fight, that’s not what you get. I hope Stipe has his wrestling shoes, because with the little cow, single-leg [takedown], single-leg, single-leg, single-leg – wrestling. “
And Cormier got a takedown in the first round, but that was it. He tried only one more, and that did not succeed.
Cormier had said it did not sound so easy to take down an athlete like Miocic, who said he had worked harder on his wrestling this training camp.
But as it turned out, Miocic did not need those wrestling shoes.
Opposite directions
1:39
Joe Rogan and Dominick Cruz discuss the historical implications of Stipe Miocic’s victory over Daniel Cormier in the heavyweight title fight at UFC 252.
While many no doubt want to hear more from Cormier about his future, as of now, the 41-year-old legend says he is ready. Before leaving the UFC Apex facility, he told commentator Joe Rogan that he did not expect to fight again.
“I’m not interested in fighting for anything other than titles, and I do not imagine there will be a title in the future,” Cormier said. “That’s it for me. I’ve had a long run. It’s been great. I just fought my last fight for a heavyweight championship and it was a pretty good fight.”
At the postfight news conference, White said he still does not think Cormier will retire, a prediction he made prior to the fight.
Miocic, on the other hand, said he would absolutely continue to fight, and even joked at the news conference about all the rumors that he was also considering retiring.
Heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou, who lost to Cormier in 2018 but has won four battles by knockout in the first round, watched the fight from his home in Cameroon and told ESPN over the phone that he would be Miocic in December come across. White confirmed at the news conference that Ngannou will receive the next title shot.
If there’s any wrench in these plans, it’s going to be lightweight champion Jon Jones, who’s also throwing his name in the ring to counter the heavyweight GOAT.
“Avoid the right hand of Support. I am too fast, I will be too strong when the time is right and have too much energy,” Jones wrote on Twitter. “Soon and very soon I will be considered the worst man on this planet.”
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