Stipe Miocic wants to get the heavyweight title back and is planning on meeting with UFC president Dana White to plan out a potential path to make that happen sooner rather than later.
Miocic has been relatively quiet since getting knocked out against Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 earlier this year. He was rumored to be in the running to fight Jon Jones, but contract negotiations never seriously materialized.
Miocic is highly regarded as one of the greatest heavyweights in combat sports history, and arguably the greatest in UFC history despite losing his belt to Ngannou. During a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Miocic revealed that he plans to meet with White next month to figure out when he could eventually return to the UFC octagon.
“We’re going to have a sit down here in September with Dana,” Miocic said. “We’ll figure it out from there. We’ll hopefully figure that out in the next month. We’ll get there. Dana has been texting me and everything is in negotiations.”
Miocic went on to reiterate his desire to compete for another shot at the UFC heavyweight title as soon as possible.
“That’s what I would love. I’m definitely aiming for that. I’m not crying about it or anything, but I just feel like I deserve it.”
Before his loss to Ngannou at UFC 260, Miocic was on a roll as the UFC heavyweight champion after winning his trilogy with former UFC double-champion Daniel Cormier. Before that, he had dominated Ngannou in their first matchup after winning his first three title defenses as the champion.
Miocic and the UFC heavyweight title picture is quite unusual at the moment, with the interim champion Ciryl Gane defeating Derrick Lewis in an interim title fight that many felt shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Whether or not his next fight will be for a title is unclear, but he’s sure to get a big-name opponent in his comeback.
Who do you think Stipe Miocic should fight next?