Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
UFC 252 went down last night (Sat., Aug. 15, 2020) inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada featuring a Heavyweight championship trilogy fight between Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier. After five rounds of action, Miocic walked away with a unanimous decision win (replay here). In the co-main event, Marlon Vera knocked out Sean O’Malley in the very first round in one of the biggest upsets in recent memory (recap here).
Biggest Winner: Stipe Miocic
After spending nearly an hour of cage time with Daniel Cormier over the course of three big title fights, Stipe Miocic proved that he is indeed the better Heavyweight of the two after taking home a unanimous decision over “DC” — to go along with his knockout win at UFC 241 — to put an end to their rivalry. He now becomes the only fighter to have two official wins over the former UFC champ-champ, which is huge considering Cormier is known as one of the greatest fighters of all time. Above all else, Miocic solidified his status as the greatest UFC Heavyweight ever with the win and maintained his status as the baddest man on the planet. And while he has a rematch against Francis Ngannou to look forward to next, Miocic can also look forward to a potential big-money super fight against current Light Heavyweight king, Jon Jones.
Runner Up: Marlon Vera
Injury to Sean O’Malley aside, that was a huge victory for “Chito,” which is undoubtedly the biggest of his career. Vera got some sweet vindication on “Suga” after the brash Bantamweight tried his hardest to channel his inner-Conor McGregor to bash the Ecuadorian-born fighter. Now it just remains to be seen if UFC throws a little public relations love “Chito’s” way after upsetting the man the promotion was grooming to be a potential poster boy. Something tells me Vera will have to put a bit more work in before that happens, but “Chito” has never been scared to work for his so you know he has his hard hat ready to put in that overtime to get to where he wants to be.
Honorable Mention: Jairzinho Rozenstruik
“Bigi Boy” bounced back nicely after he suffered the first loss of his career — a 20-second knockout loss to Francis Ngannou — by knocking out former Heavyweight champion, Junior dos Santos. The win is a big one for Rozenstruik for the simple fact that in the 265-pound division there aren’t a whole lot of contenders who have put enough wins together to warrant a title shot, other than Ngannou and Curtis Blaydes. That means that unlike in other weight classes, one or two big wins puts your right at the forefront of a championship fight. I think Rozenstruik is probably one (maybe two) big win away from punching his ticket to the big dance, but his knockout of “Cigano” once again reminded all of the big men just how dangerous he is.
Biggest Loser: Sean O’Malley
“The Suga Show” hit a huge speed bump in “Sin City” after Marlon Vera knocked out O’Malley in the very first round. The loss marked the first time Sean tasted defeat in his combat career after starting off 12-0, 4-0 UFC. But perhaps the worst part about the night for O’Malley was that he suffered an leg injury prior to being stopped, which many will likely use as a reason to discredit “Chito.” It’s an unfortunate setback for O’Malley, one he’s gone through before. While the full extent of the injury is unknown as of this writing, “Suga” will likely be out for an extended period of time which will slow down his rise — coupled with the loss — and allow the rest of the Bantamweights to make their move. At the end of the day, these things (unfortunately) happen in MMA. Just as this legend.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 252: “Miocic vs. Cormier 3” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.