Stipe Miocic wants to win his belt back, ideally avenging his loss to Francis Ngannou whilst doing so.
Stipe Miocic is adamant he can avenge his UFC 260 loss to Francis Ngannou and win back his heavyweight title.
Miocic, 38, won his first encounter with Ngannou in January 2018 but was brutally knocked out by ‘The Predator’ in March. Talking recently to Submission Radio, Miocic congratulated Ngannou for the win but admitted the loss has been driving him crazy.
“It was his night. I’m not gonna take that away from him,” Miocic said. “He didn’t get lucky, he just caught me with a punch I didn’t see, and it is what it is. And congrats to him. He won the title, but I’m coming back to get what’s mine. I know what I did wrong, and I’ll come back stronger and better and more prepared and take back what’s mine.
“I want a rematch, and I wanna get my title back,” Miocic said. “He took something that was mine, and it drives me nuts every day.”
Following UFC 260, all signs pointed towards a fight between Ngannou and pound-for-pound number one Jon Jones, The UFC has reportedly moved on from that fight and plan to make Ngannou face Derrick Lewis in his first title defense.
As much as Miocic would like to avenge his loss against Ngannou, his ultimate goal is becoming the heavyweight champion again.
“Honestly, I don’t care who it is,” Miocic said. “I really would love to fight Francis again for the rematch and get that W back over him in the rubber match. But yeah, I don’t care who it is. I’m not preferring anyone, but if I had a choice, I would want to fight Ngannou again. Just because he beat me last time and took the belt.”