Stipe Miocic Dominates Francis Ngannou to Become Longest Reigning UFC Heavyweight Champion in History
Stipe Miocic brought the hype surrounding Francis Ngannou to a crashing halt on Saturday night as the reigning and defending heavyweight champion put on a five round clinic to retain his title in the UFC 220 main event.
With the win, Miocic is now the longest reigning heavyweight champion in UFC history surpassing a laundry list of legends including Randy Couture, Mark Coleman and Brock Lesnar, who were never able to defend the title more than two times.
Despite his dominant title reign, Miocic actually walked into the fight as a decided underdog and that definitely rubbed him the wrong way as he had far more experience against higher level opposition than Ngannou.
Still, the mammoth Cameroonian was the favorite after earning several highlight reel knockouts capped off by his near decapitation against former title contender Alistair Overeem less than two months ago.
As the fight got underway, Miocic was very cautious to avoid the big bombs coming from Ngannou, who came storming out of the gates like usual as he threw every shot looking to land the knockout.
Ngannou did manage to land a couple of good punches early that started to cause some swelling under Miocic's eye, but by the latter half of the first round, the champion began landing combinations of his own while his grueling pace was starting to wear on the first time title contender.
By the time the second round got started, Ngannou was already visibly tired and that only served as a target for Miocic to begin pressing forward with single leg takedown attempts that not only earned him an advantageous position but absolutely drained whatever energy remained in "The Predator".
Miocic was relentless with his pace as he took Ngannou to the ground over and over again and by the time the championship rounds began, it was clear he had no answers for the champion on the feet or on the ground.
Still to his credit, Ngannou tried to launch his missile like shots any time he found an opening but he slowed down so much by that point in the fight that Miocic was able to duck, dodge and then continue to pour on the punishment.
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Miocic stayed in absolute control throughout the fight with Ngannou basically in survival mode as he looked content to make it to the final horn but there was no doubt when 25 minutes was up that the championship was going back home to Cleveland.
In the end, the judges all scored the fight the same with Miocic winning a lopsided decision 50-44, 50-44 and 50-44 to retain the UFC light heayvweight championship.
In terms of statistics, Miocic won every single category by a wide margin including out striking Ngannou 200-33 in total strikes while landing six takedowns, four guard passes while landing over 73-percent of his significant stirkes. Despite the dominant win, Miocic still paid tribute to Ngannou for being a tough opponent and forcing him to be the best he's ever been to win this fight over five rounds.
"I'm not the scariest but I'm the baddest [man on the planet]," Miocic said following his win. "Hell yeah there was danger, look at how big he is. He's a tough dude."
Not only did Miocic take down arguably the biggest challenge of his career but he also defended his title for the third time — a feat that's never been accomplished before by a heavyweight in the history of the UFC.
Still, Miocic wasn't worried about making history as much as he was ready to celebrate the announcement that he's expecting his first child with his wife Ryan.
"That don't mean s--t. I'm going to be a dad! That's all that matters to me. I'm having a baby!" Miocic shouted.
Whether he addressed it or not, Miocic can stand proud because he's done what no other UFC fighter before him could do and he now puts his hat in the ring to make the argument as the greatest heavyweight of all time.
As for Ngannou, he was obviously disappointed that he came up short and admitted after the loss that he probably looked past Miocic ahead of their title fight.
“I underestimated him a little bit," Ngannou said. "He had a great game plan and he did it well.”
Obviously, Ngannou has plenty of time to grow from this loss as he'll undoubtedly look to rebound later this year. Obviously there are some huge holes he needs to address following this defeat but Ngannous is far from finished.
