“August 15, 2020, in Las Vegas Nevada, the UFC returns to Las Vegas as Stipe Miocic and Danier Cormier contest the UFC heavyweight championship for the third time, ending what many people are calling the greatest trilogy in the history of the sport!”
Stylish graphic transition, then fight highlights and interviews and anything else remotely relevant to the fight flash across the screen in what has to be the most effective promotional template I have ever seen. The UFC are on a Roy Jones Jr level when it comes to pushing their product. Can’t be touched. They told the COVID virus to go fuck itself and continued putting on events through the most tense period of a global lockdown, going so far as to build a ‘Fight Island’ in Abu Dhabi where the they were able to operate in their own little world, as I suspect Dana and The Fertitta brothers would sometimes prefer. Returning to Las Vegas is a veer towards normalcy. Back to the spiritual home of the company while remaining in an isolated environment at the UFC Apex. An eleven-fight card and I only care about one; the main event.
I remember watching Stipe Miocic wrestle-fuck Francis Ngannou into an existential crisis. Stipe was making the third defence of the title he won with a wonderful moving counter-right hand, knocking out Fabricio Werdum in Brazil. Everybody, even my boy Joe Rogan (blessed is his name) seemed set on crowning Ngannou as the champion before that fight even started.
Granted. There were good reasons for this. Ngannou punches people, and they suddenly begin to rethink their life choices. The unfortunate men with their bodies in the way clench their jaws as their eyes widen and their legs wobble. The next moment they are unconscious. Beware the giant with an eight-pack for he holds thunder in his fists. As soon as that thunder struck Stipe, many expected the fight to end.
To repeat the phrase that makes The Woman roll her eyes at me, “Life is about levels!” Stipe showed Ngannou levels. He stood and boxed with him, mostly slipping the dangerous fists but taking some full-blooded shots too. He punched back, and waited for the moment to grab Ngannou’s legs and dump him on the ground. He held Ngannou down, punching, elbowing, resting on him. By the end of the second it was clear the Cameroonian was exhausted, and Stipe had his way more and more as the fight wore on. A wide decision victory for the underdog champ. It was on this form he went into the first Cormier fight which is why I expected him to win.
After four minutes of even kickboxing Cormier grabbed an underhook in a clinch then pulled Stipe on to the tip of a short, solid right hand. Stipe went straight down and Cormier’s fists were close behind. He bounced Stipe’s head off the canvas with the finishing blows and became a two-division world champion, Randy Couture style.
They met again a year later. The fight went into the fourth with Cormier edging the exchanges but visibly slowing as the rounds passed. Then Stipe dug in about fifteen left hooks to the body. A right hand and a rush against the cage regained his title, which set us up for the trilogy fight on August 15.
Now, I don’t know all about this ‘greatest trilogy of all time’ talk I’m suddenly hearing, but I do like both of these fighters. Cormier will forever be linked with Jon Jones if only for the sheer improbability of two fighters of their calibre ending up in the same era. Separate them by two decades and people would always wonder who would win, like they do with Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. Jon Jones stamped his authority on both of their fights, conclusively the second time around, and so Cormier sought other ways to distinguish himself. He did so by beating Stipe and becoming the heavyweight champion.
My foolish prediction. If Cormier concentrates his efforts on scoring takedowns, clinching, working against the cage, and ground-and-pound, he wins the fight. If this fight stays in the centre of the octagon and they trade blows, Stipe wins all day. I don’t think Cormier has the energy for that kind of fight, at five rounds, at heavyweight. Seeing as their previous two fights have remained on the feet, I’m picking with Stipe to continue his second reign as champion. I can’t wait to see how wrong I am.
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