For Stipe Miocic, a win both impressive and inconsequential
The misfortune of Stipe Miocic's 35-second beatdown of Fabio Maldonado is that it proved nothing to no one, except maybe the loser. Miocic won big, but doesn't benefit from it in terms of public perception. It was really what he needed to do in order to not be downgraded.
That's what happens when you're a lopsided favorite against a smaller man competing out of his natural weight class. For Miocic, it was always a mission impossible to do anything other than hold his place in the heavyweight division. He was just a soldier holding the front line. No advance possible, retreat no option.
Miocic never let on about it. He thanked the UFC for the opportunity, credited Maldonado for his toughness and even claimed he'd be the underdog when he walked out into the arena, presumably because Maldonado was fighting in his home city. But the emotion the Ginasio do Ibirapuera crowd showered upon Maldonado was only temporary.
Chael Sonnen, who coached the TUF Brazil 3 fighters who also competed on the UFC Fight Night event, once gave a great speech about emotion and fear and excitement, and how utterly useless all of it is once the cage door closes behind you. In the end, all that matters is actions. And with his, Miocic showed how seriously he took a fight that had little upside for him.
It would have been easy to be let down when his original opponent Junior dos Santos bowed out due to a broken hand. That was a matchup that could have paid real dividends. With a win, Miocic would have vaulted into the No. 1 contender conversation. He might have even jumped the line, right behind champ Cain Velasquez and next challenger Fabricio Werdum.
But after clubbing Maldonado in record time, where is he? Well, it seems that the fight world would be pretty content if he got the same matchup he was originally supposed to have, against dos Santos.
"If the fight happens, it happens," he said in the typical Stipe stoicism. "I'm happy with the 'W' tonight, I'll go home and relax and wait to see what UFC wants me to do next."
I guess the best that can be said for it from Miocic's point of view is that it beat laying on his couch for 12 hours watching two UFC cards back-to-back like some of us did. If Maldonado didn't step up to fight him, that might have been Miocic's Saturday, a depressing Cleveland spring day spent longingly looking at a television and wondering what might have been.
Truth be told, if it wasn't Maldonado, it might have been no one, because there were really no other heavyweights available to step in against him. So he got a payday and a main-event gig good for visibility, and that's something. But fighters are in it to move towards No. 1, and this was a treadmill fight. All Miocic could do was run in place.
Nearing his 32nd birthday, Miocic isn't the young prospect some paint him out to be with time to burn. Certainly, he's still green in the MMA game, just over four years into his pro career, but he's already proved himself ready to make the jump against elites.
If there is a silver lining for him past the money he made -- in addition to his purse, he banked an extra $50,000 for "Performance of the Night" honors -- it's the main event experience. The first time he headlined a UFC event, he cracked under pressure and lost for the first and only time. This was his second time back, and he looked far more comfortable. For example, when he rattled Maldonado on his first barrage, he patiently assessed his opponent's condition before rushing in, mindful that (a) he was scheduled to fight for more than 24 more minutes, and (b) Maldonado is known for inviting opponents into cramped quarters while feigning duress. It was only when Miocic realized for sure that Maldonado was hurt that he pushed for the finish.
Those completed tests of composure lead to big-fight experience, no small thing as he prepares to take on talent that is decidedly un-Fabio Maldonado.
Thirteen fights in, Miocic, like Travis Browne before him, is the rare heavyweight talent to break into the top 10 stranglehold of veterans like Fabricio Werdum, Josh Barnett, Alistair Overeem and the rest. It's a division that hasn't had much turnover in the last few years, and Miocic is threatening to shake things up. This was supposed to be his chance, but through no fault of his own, that will have to wait. Despite 35 seconds of fire, despite complete dominance and a knockout win, he's exactly where he was before the night began.
