"I'm gonna win and dominate", says Stipe Miocic on potential rematch against Francis Ngannou
UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic wants to grant Francis Ngannou another shot at his title but claims that the result will be the same as last time around.
Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou went head to head for the first time back at UFC 220 in January 2018 and it ended with the reigning champion stopping Ngannou's hype-train following a string of devastating KO wins inside the cage. In the fight, Stipe Miocic effectively used wrestling to his advantage and dominated the scary striker on the ground throughout the five rounds.
Although Stipe Miocic dominantly defeated Ngannou in their first fight, the latter transformed himself since the loss and is now on a four-fight winning streak inside the Octagon and all of those wins came via knockout which makes Miocic believe that the French knockout artist indeed deserves another crack at the heavyweight title.
“I think so. Ngannou has definitely shown a lot better stuff since the first fight,” Miocic said to ESPN. “He’s knocking everyone out in the first round. He’s just on a tear.
Stipe Miocic is fresh off his huge victory against former two-division champ, Daniel Cormier at UFC 252. Following the win, many people speculated that a rematch with Ngannou or a superfight against Jon Jones may be on the cards, but the champ doesn't really care who's next.
“I don’t know,” Miocic said. “[Jones has] got a great résumé. But other guys have worked hard to get where they need to get. I’m not the matchmaker, so I can’t really say anything. I fight. If I was a matchmaker, I wouldn’t be fighting. I’ll do what the UFC decides.”
Miocic also said that if he fights Ngannou, he would still dominate the Frenchman like he did when the pair fought earlier.
"The same thing is gonna happen. Same result. There’s no difference that’s gonna happen. I’m gonna win and dominate,” he concluded