Stipe Miocic aims to defend UFC heavyweight title for second time
Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
DALLAS (AP) -- Stipe Miocic prefers trying to avoid any extended talk about the possibility of matching some UFC heavyweight history, much like sidestepping a jab aimed for his jaw.
Miocic will try Saturday night to become only the fifth UFC heavyweight fighter to defend his title twice. To do so, he will have to beat former champion and fourth-ranked Junior Dos Santos, who defeated Miocic by a slim margin 2 1/2 years ago in a five-round brawl that left both fighters bloodied and bruised.
"If it happens, it happens, which, I'm going to do it," Miocic said of another title defense. "But I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to worry about him," nodding in the direction of Dos Santos sitting only a few yards away.
Miocic is from Cleveland, and brought home a championship a month before his beloved Cavaliers won the NBA title last year.
The 34-year-old Miocic (16-2) claimed his UFC crown with a first-round knockout of Fabricio Werdum in May 2016 in Brazil, and he retained the title by beating Alistair Overeem last September at Cleveland with another first-round knockout.
Since the heavyweight division was formed in 1997, only Randy Couture, Tim Sylvia, Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar have won two title defenses.
Dos Santos was awarded a unanimous decision over Miocic when they fought in Phoenix in December 2014 without a title belt on the line. That fight was scored 48-47, 49-46, 49-46. Dos Santos' eyes and cheeks were swelling in the later rounds, and Miocic immediately left the cage upon hearing the decision by the judges.
"The judges said I lost. So, I lost," Miocic said with a shrug. "Unfortunately, he beat me last time, which kills me inside ... But I want to thank him at the same time because it made me better. Gave me more confidence. I took everything he gave me."
Miocic has won his four bouts since, three of those in the first round.
Both fighters said their rematch Saturday, the feature bout of a 13-fight card at the American Airlines Center, won't go the full five rounds.
Miocic insisted that he wasn't going to lose. Dos Santos (18-4), a 33-year-old Brazilian, predicted a second-round victory, but also expressed admiration for his opponent.
"He's a real deal in our division," Dos Santos said. "I learned a lot from that fight, not just about him but about me, too. We have to impose ourselves better during the fight. We have to have our strategy and follow it until the end."
Dos Santos won his title in November 2011 with a 64-second knockout of Velasquez in California. But he lost a unanimous decision to Velasquez in his second title defense 13 months later at Las Vegas.
There was only one fight in each 2015 and 2016 for Dos Santos, who had surgery on his right shoulder after beating Ben Rothwell 13 months ago. A fight scheduled in February against Stefan Struve was cancelled after Struve was injured.
The co-main event for UFC 211 will match women's strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk of Poland against Jessica Andrade of Brazil.
Jedrzejczyk (13-0) said she is "super happy" to return to Dallas this week, as well she should be. It was there in March 2015 that the 29-year-old fighter scored a second-round TKO over Carla Esparza to claim the strawweight championship. She said continued success since hasn't changed her work ethic.
"I'm going to stay humble and work even harder than before," Jedrzejczyk said. "I challenge myself every day. I'm enjoying the life. But when it's time to work, I work very hard."
Andrade (16-5) was once a sparring partner under the same management as Jedrzejczyk while they were based in Brazil and Poland, and they occasionally worked out together when both were in the United States. Andrade brings a three-bout winning streak into Saturday.
"She's a real nice person," Andrade said about Jedrzejczyk through a translator. "She has always been nice to me. She has the belt now, and I have to take it."
Eddie Alvarez (28-5), who lost his lightweight championship to Conor McGregor at UFC 205 in New York last November, fights on the preliminary card against Dustin Poirier (21-5).
A scheduled flyweight bout between Henry Cejudo and Sergio Pettis that was part of the five-fight main card was cancelled this week after Cejudo reported an injury. The middleweight fight between Krzysztof Jotko (19-1) and David Branch (20-3) was moved up to the five-bout main card.
