Stipe Miocic is expecting a different fight when he defends his title against Junior dos Santos in a rematch at UFC 211.
Their first encounter took place back in Dec. 2014. The two went the distance in a back-and-fourth contest. “Cigano” walked away with a controversial unanimous decision win. Both men earned “Fight of the Night” bonuses.
Since then, Miocic has gone on a four-fight winning streak including his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight title victory over Fabricio Werdum. In his last bout, Miocic successfully defended his championship in a first-round knockout win over Alistair Overeem.
Miocic recently sat down with The News-Herald to talk about his next title defense against dos Santos. He admitted that going the distance wasn’t an ideal circumstance over two years ago:
“I had never gone five rounds before, (it’s) terrible. I wasn’t ready for that. Going five rounds with him — after that I was good. I knew I could hang with anyone after that. (The UFC) knows it will be a great fight because we’re both going to come out swinging like the last fight. They like that. It makes sense (for the UFC).”
In his 16 career wins, Miocic has knocked out 12 of his opponents and submitted one. While he feels he’s prepared to go the distance this time, he prefers to get the finish.
“I’m ready to go five rounds and for 25 minutes, but I definitely want to stop it early. It won’t be like last time. I’m (motivated) by that loss. I don’t want it to happen again.”
