5 Things We Learned From UFC 203
A champ makes a statement and a dream comes to a crushing end.
UFC 203 is in the books, and the promotion's first visit to Cleveland, Ohio has to be considered a success for the sport of mixed martial arts. The card, which was headlined by the first title defense of heavyweight champion and Ohio resident Stipe Miocic squaring off against MMA legend Alistair Overeem was full of exciting action, finishes and even a bit of controversy.
The event is also notable as it featured the debut of former WWE superstar CM Punk. After signing with the UFC in December of 2014, many fans began to wonder if the veteran pro wrestler would ever actually step inside the octagon. Constant delays, a lengthy search for an appropriate opponent and a serious back injury had things looking bleak for Punk and his fans. Nevertheless, the man defied all the odds and competed at the highest level on the biggest possible stage despite having no experience and very little training.
With a sellout live gate of $2.6 million and a loud, raucous crowd you can bet that the UFC will return to the city of Cleveland at some point, and Stipe Miocic likely will be a featured name when they do. The audience was rabid in their support of their hometown hero.
Fabricio Werdum vs. Travis Browne, Urijah Faber/Jimmie Rivera and a women's strawweight clash featuring Jessica Andrade and Joanne Calderwood rounded out the rest of the main card. Let's take a look at the action and find out what we learned from UFC 203.
5. Stipe Miocic Is A Bad Man
This isn't breaking news for anyone who has followed the new champ's career up until this point. Since his UFC debut in October of 2011, Miocic has amassed a record of 10-2, with 7 of those victories coming by way of TKO. He's stood and banged with feared strikers such as Mark Hunt, Andrei Arlovski, Fabricio Werdum and Fabio Maldonado and he's slept them all.
Alistair Overeem was arguably his biggest test yet. The highly-skilled veteran is one of the most technical strikers in MMA history, and his only real weakness has been his questionable chin. "The Demolition Man" is probably most known by casual fans as the man who ended Brock Lesnar's initial UFC career, but he's got an impressive body of work that features championships in multiple organizations and victories all over the globe against a who's who of great fighters.
In the talk leading up to the fight, Overeem claimed that Stipe was "a wolf with a full belly" who was more focused on partying and celebrating his new life as the champion rather than defending the title, and that he was the hungrier fighter who was prepared to take what he'd been working toward for years.
While Alistair may have been the better striker on paper, Stipe was the one who came out on top in their affair, with both men landing big strikes that stunned the other. Late in the first round Overeem went down and Miocic pounced on him like a hungry predator, landing huge shots from the top position that put the challenger to sleep for an alarming length of time.
The Cleveland crowd went ballistic for the Ohio native who represented them well and promised he would be holding onto the belt for a long time. It would appear that former champion Cain Velasquez will be the next challenger on his plate, which will present Miocic with an entirely different skillset to contend with in comparison to his last handful of opponents.
At this point you can almost guarantee any fight featuring Stipe Miocic will be a must-watch.