Midnight Mania! Stipe Miocic Finally ‘100% Happy’ with UFC 226 Paycheck

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Stipe Miocic has the most credible case of anyone as the best UFC heavyweight of all time, yet the man remains his quiet, unassuming, underrated self.

It’s the underrated part that has gotten just a little bit under his cold-bitten Cleveland skin in the past, particularly in how that under-rating was reflected in his paychecks. He was out-earned by Alastair Overeem defending the belt in his hometown- a fight he won by first-round TKO, shutting off Overeem’s motherboard with terrifying ground strikes. His next fight, after not getting the pay raise he wanted, he was also the underhyped, the focus being on fearsome Cameroonian man-mountain Francis Ngannou. Ngannou had Stipe by twenty pounds or so, but Stipe had him by twenty minutes of cardio, pushing through his own exhaustion to grind the African into inert survival on the mat. He did all this while holding down his day job as a fireman and EMT, and starting a family to boot.

Now, Stipe is finally getting the recognition he never craved, but knew he deserved. He just coached opposite 205-lb. champ Daniel Cormier on The Ultimate Fighter, and is featured in a Modelo ad highlighting his working-class roots. Thrust into the limelight of a superfight with the light heavyweight champion, on the most packed card of the year, Miocic is content with the state of relations between himself and his promoter. Via MMAFighting.com:

“Dana and I, we talked that stuff out and it worked out great,” Miocic told reporters Monday. When asked if the Cormier fight represents the biggest payday of his career, he added “100 percent.”

Miocic blames the sale and subsequent ownership transition of the company for past slights, saying in his hoarse but happy growl that he basically got neglected in the shuffle.

“A lot has changed,” Miocic said. “I think it had a lot to do with the change in the company too, they were stuck in their transition. I’m just, I was stuck when they sold the company, they were looking for what’s good for them, but I understand that. They spent a lot of money, they spent four billion dollars it’s not like ‘ahh, sure guys.’ it’s a little bit different than that. They made it right and it was all good.”

UFC 226 is this Saturday. Don’t miss it.

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Insomnia

Insomnia

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Real life application to martial arts technique here. Gritty stuff.

Nailed it.

Big boys throwing down

Vicious loop choke

Congratulations to everyone (even Joben) who sponsored MMA Mania’s own pro fighter, Alpha Male’s Andrew Richardson.

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Good Read, Home of the Good Read

• This remarkable article about Russian soccer hooligans who train combat sports to fight each other in the woods will be of great interest to you. Russia is crazy country.

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Podcasts and Video

Will Daniel Cormier use his single-leg against Stipe Miocic? Follow MMA Mania on Youtube

If you haven’t taken the time to watch it yet, catch the whole documentary about our own analyst Andrew Richardson’s pro debut.

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