Stipe Miocic Focused on Beating Daniel Cormier, Not Worried About His Legacy Right Now
Stipe Miocic never loses focus on the task at hand.
In the lead up to his fight against Herculean challenger Francis Ngannou at UFC 220, Miocic talked often about the matchup and how he planned to beat the highly touted contender but rarely brought up the fact that a win would solidify him as the longest reigning champion in UFC heavyweight history.
See Miocic wasn’t thinking about breaking the record for heavyweight title defenses because that would force him to think about what happened after the fight with Ngannou was finished.
The way Miocic carries himself into every title defense is to look at the opponent in front of him as the biggest obstacle of his career and there’s no future until that fight is finished.
That’s why Miocic isn’t worried too much about his legacy going into his upcoming showdown with light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in only the third ever champion versus champion fight in UFC history.
A win over Cormier, who has never been defeated at heavyweight, would certainly add another huge accolade to Miocic’s resume but he can’t think about that right now. The only thing that matters to him is making it to July 7 and beating Cormier in their fight.
Until the fight is over, Miocic refuses to address the historic importance of their fight and how his title defense record would be extended even further. None of that matters if he doesn’t get through Cormier at UFC 226.
“I don’t know about my legacy. I’m not worried about that,” Miocic said. “I’m just thinking about winning a fight. I’m going to go out there and do my thing. I don’t really worry about what everyone else thinks about this. I’m going to go out there and win. That’s what I do.”
Miocic treats every opponent the same considering each and every one of them is gunning to take his throne as the UFC heavyweight champion.
Cormier may be smaller than some of the behemoth heavyweights he’s faced in the past, but Miocic refuses to think of this as anything other than the toughest matchup of his entire career.
He’s never underestimated an opponent before and Miocic will not make a foolish mistake by looking past Cormier either.
“He can throw down, he can slam, he’s an amazing fighter all the time. Heavyweight or light heavyweight, he’s good at both. He’s won at heavyweight and he’s won at light heavyweight so this is nothing new to him,” Miocic said about Cormier.
“He’s a wrestler, he’s got that wrestler mentality. He’s strong. I’m going to go out there and do my thing. I’m not going to take that guy lightly. There’s no way I would ever take that guy lightly. He’s an absolute beast. He’s a wrestler. He’s wrestled top guys in the world. He’s super strong. I’m just going to do my thing. He’s going to be a tough matchup like any fight. No fight is easy.”
All that said, Miocic predicts the same ending as all his other fights since knocking out Fabricio Werdum to win the UFC title in 2016.
Cormier may be great and he may present a different challenge than all the rest, but just like every other heavyweight contender who has come looking for a fight, Miocic intends to walk out with that championship belt wrapped firmly around his waist.
“I’m excited for this fight and we’re both going out there swinging and one of us is going to go down,” Miocic said. “Unfortunately [for him], I’m walking out with my belt so I’m not giving that up.”
