Fighter On Fighter! Breaking Down Stipe!
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight roost-ruler, Stipe Miocic, will look to defend his crown opposite fellow champion, Daniel Cormier, this Saturday night (July 7, 2018) at UFC 226 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ahead of this fight, Miocic already has a fair argument toward being the greatest UFC Heavyweight of all time. Based on consecutive title defenses alone, he’s already there. For whatever reason, though, Miocic does not quite “WOW” the masses in the way that other Heavyweight legends have, leading to some disrespect for the Heavyweight king. Make no mistake though, none of that is fair or based on skill. Miocic is a well-rounded, smart and dangerous athlete, more than worthy of his title.
Let’s take a closer look at how Miocic gets it done:
Striking
Miocic has some great physical tools that he takes full advantage of — namely an 80 inch reach and face-melting power — but he’s long shown more smarts than the average big man. Miocic is willing to game plan and adjust to his opponents, and that’s why he’s been so successful
Miocic does excellent work with the jab. Unlike many fighters, Miocic recognizes that while a jab can do damage, it doesn’t have to every time. Miocic throws dozen of jabs without fully committing, doing little more than swatting his opponent’s nose or punching his gloves.
The jab sets up most of Miocic’s success by establishing his range and drawing strikes from his opponent. A common sequence in Miocic’s bouts sees the champion land a jab and pull back, avoiding his opponent’s looping power shot. Then, as his foe tries to regain good position, Miocic steps back in with a more committed pair of punches.
The best demonstration of Miocic’s jab remains his bout with Mark Hunt, one of the division’s better counter punches. Hunt is used to fighting at a reach disadvantage, but Miocic is one of the few who made it count, picking at Hunt with the jab constantly (GIF). Miocic kept his head back on most of the jabs, which helped him stay safe from counters, and he also feinted constantly. Those jab feints made Hunt hesitant, unsure of when to fully commit to his counter attempts.
Against Ngannou, Miocic showed great strategy and technique when faced with a giant man chasing him and winging power shots. Early on, Miocic was willing to focus largely on defense, circling away from “The Predator” and letting most shots come up short. When trapped along the fence, Miocic used takedown attempts to gain better position or rolled his way to safety (GIF).
Later on, Ngannou tired and realized he should probably do something other than sprint and throw power shots. He began to jab, but unlike the champion, did not set up his jabs with feints or noncommittal jabs. The result was some of Miocic’s best right-handed counters (GIF), as he slipped outside to load up the right or slipped inside for the cross counter.
It’s worth mentioning that Miocic has some nasty low kicks (GIF). He goes to the inside and outside well with different intentions. Usually, Miocic’s inside low kick is quick and shakes up his opponent’s stance, allowing for follow up punches. On the other hand, Miocic’s outside kick is simply devastating and painful. Prior to his Octagon debut, Miocic actually finished one of his opponents via low kicks.
Thanks to Miocic’s outside work, a reasonable strategy when facing the Ohio-native is to pressure him. While his wrestling does a nice job of deterring that plan, his counter right hand is another major tool in his arsenal (GIF).
Much of Miocic’s success comes from maintaining his distance and sticking his opponent with the jab and cross, mixing in some low kicks and clinch work when appropriate (GIF). That’s the strategy that carried him into the Top 10, but many of Miocic’s recent bouts have seen a change in approach. While he still does a good job of maintaining stance and working behind the jab, Miocic’s focus has been on pressuring fighters and finding a home for his crushing right hand.
This trend began in Miocic’s title eliminator opposite Andrei Arlovski. Instead of working from the range of Arlovski’s brutal overhand, Miocic pressured his opponent immediately and made him uncomfortable. While advancing, Miocic did an excellent job of keeping his hands tight and slipping off the line while punching. The bout only lasted about a minute, but in that time most of Arlovski’s wide blows glanced off Miocic’s guard. Before long, a brutal right hand from Miocic found a home on Arlovski’s chin (GIF).
Opposite Alistair Overeem, Miocic had little interest in trading kicks with the former K-1 champion and was obviously motivated to get in the pocket. For much of the bout, Overeem stood as a Southpaw. Pawing at Miocic’s lead hand, Overeem looked to take away the jab and maintain the kicking range, where he could slam home hard kicks to the body and look to counter any forward movement with a brutal overhand left.
It definitely worked on some levels, but Miocic did his best to pressure relentlessly without becoming an easy target for the left hand. One of the things he did best was reach out and grab Overeem’s lead hand, catching and closing the distance. Overeem could fire his left, but that would mean accepting close range with Miocic. Often, Overeem literally ran away, which allowed Miocic to chase him down with doubled up punches. Alternatively, his hand control backed Overeem into the fence, where Miocic both doubled up and dug to the body in order to work around Overeem’s defense.
Miocic may have ate some shots in the process, but as the younger, more durable fighter, that was a fair trade to land his own heavy blows.
Finally, Miocic’s rematch with dos Santos showed yet another aggressive game plan that was both planned and improvised. Miocic likely intended to back Junior dos Santos into the fence — he did in the first bout, and “JDS” has long struggled from that position. However, a few heavy low kicks from the Brazilian damaged Miocic’s lead leg, motivating him even more to push into the boxing range.
While backing up dos Santos, Miocic showed his craft. He kept a jab on dos Santos, getting the Brazilian to move his head and then firing a tight right hand when dos Santos’ head movement stalled or he hit the fence (GIF). Another smart decision by Miocic was to switch to Southpaw when dos Santos hit the fence, as it tricked “JDS” to circle into his new power side and absorb a couple left crosses.
Defensively, Miocic does stand a bit tall and can occasionally forget his patience, as seen when he quite literally walked into a massive left hand from Overeem. At the same time, Miocic showed a great deal of thought and self-control to avoid Ngannou’s massive blows.
Wrestling
Miocic’s college wrestling background has been a major asset to his game even if he spends more time boxing, as he’s been quite successful in wrestling exchanges on offense and defense. It also helps that Miocic is a quality athlete for the division, a solid mix of speed and power.
One of the most interesting aspects of his Miocic’s game is his habit to mix half-hearted takedown attempts into his offense. These half shots serve a significant purpose, as they keep his opponent off-balance and give Miocic an opportunity to read his opponent. More than anything else, it’s another layer of complexity for Miocic’s offense, as his opponent must more often react and respect these feints.
Most of the time, Miocic is feinting or half-shooting the snatch single leg. The snatch single itself and some of the advantages to using that type of takedown are covered in this week’s technique highlight.
The real exception to Miocic’s usual wrestling style is his first bout with dos Santos. Rather than a few well-timed single legs, Miocic was frequently driving through double leg takedowns. Though dos Santos stuffed the vast majority of them, Miocic was able to force the fight into the fence and work from there.
Miocic was forced to use driving double legs and clinch work against Ngannou as well, as you cannot really snatch single a man charging straight into you. It may not be Miocic’s preferred style, but he did a great job of running his legs underneath the shot to off-balance Ngannou and plant him on the mat (GIF).
The Ngannou bout also showcased Miocic’s brand of top control. Historically, Miocic likes to stay in half guard, sitting on one of his foe’s legs to pin him to the mat. From there, Miocic will also look to trap one of his opponent’s arms, allowing him to tee off with the free hand and generally make his opponent’s life miserable.
The Ohio-native did plenty of that opposite the Frenchman, but he also worked from turtle quite a bit. As Ngannou tried to turn away and stand, Miocic would control the far wrist and weigh down on his opponent. He was never truly able to release his ground strikes from that position — due to both fatigue and fear of letting Ngannou escape — but he did plenty of damage regardless.
To finish Overeem, Miocic showed off the benefits of proper posture at Heavyweight. From full guard, Miocic stood over his opponent and picked his shots. Thanks to his size and gravity, Miocic’s punches quickly ended the contest (GIF).
For the most part, Miocic’s takedown defense is quite solid. Even when he is taken down, he’s pretty quick to scramble back to his feet. Thus far, none of his opponent’s have found consistent success in taking him down. However, this is also the first true wrestling specialist Miocic has faced.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Miocic has yet to be put on his back long enough to really display any submission game. Offensively, Miocic has never submitted any of his opponents nor even really attempted to. However, Miocic has proven to be a strong guard passer. In his bouts against Shane del Rosario and Joey Beltran, Miocic was able to slice through their guards, achieve dominant positions, and maintain top position. While Beltran is not exactly a jiu-jitsu specialist, del Rosario was known for having a dangerous bottom game, but Miocic nullified it. At the same time, Miocic does like working from the half guard as explained above, so it often benefits him to stay there and drop heavy shots.
Conclusion
Is this the victory that will earn Miocic respect and acclaim from the masses? Probably not, but it does greatly add to his legacy as a Heavyweight champion. Plus, taking on Cormier gave the rest of the division a chance to sort itself out, and there are once again interesting challenges for Miocic like Curtis Blaydes and Alexander Volkov should he defeat the former Olympian. All in all, this is probably the best timed super fight I can remember, and it stands the benefit the winner greatly.
Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.
