Daniel Cormier may not be taking any personal shots at Stipe Miocic ahead of UFC 226 but he’s not biting his tongue when it comes to his opinion of the heavyweight champion’s reign.
While Miocic has more title defenses than anybody else in UFC heavyweight history, Cormier seems to believe the Ohio native has been fortunate over the past two years he’s been champion.
Cormier broke it down fight by fight starting with Miocic’s win over former champion Fabricio Werdum in 2016 when he won the title with a first round knockout in Brazil.
“He’s fought some tough guys,” Cormier said about Miocic. “Fabricio Werdum, I don’t know what he was doing. He ran right into Stipe’s fist. Stipe might have still won that fight. Alistair Overeem, I don’t know what he was doing. He hurt him and then he thought he tapped. [Rematch] with [Junior] dos Santos, I think Cain Velasquez may have turned Junior into a zombie nowadays. I love the guy but he is and Francis Ngannou can’t wrestle.
“This will be the first time he’s fighting somebody that can do everything.”
“If I spent 22 minutes on top of him, I would have gotten four or five submissions and found a way to get some TKO stoppages” ~ Daniel Cormier on Miocic’s win over Francis Ngannou
Cormier was even more critical of Miocic’s most recent win where he dominated highly touted heavyweight knockout artist Francis Ngannou over the course of 25 minutes back at UFC 220 in January.
Miocic out classed Ngannou in every facet of the fight, out landing him 200 to 33 in significant strikes while also taking the fight to the ground on six different occasions over five rounds.
Still, Cormier believes with that kind of domination, Miocic should have finished the fightk but somehow Ngannou still survived.
“This dude’s a good champion. He is and I love Francis Ngannou, I think he’s a great guy but if I spent 22 minutes on top of him, I would have gotten four or five submissions and found a way to get some TKO stoppages,” Cormier said about the fight.
Obviously Cormier is confident that he’ll do things that Miocic has never dealt with during his 18 professional victories and that’s why he believes he’ll walk out of UFC 226 with the heavyweight title around his waist.
Who wins the UFC 226 main event between Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
