UFC 241: Miocic finishes Cormier in the fourth to reclaim heavyweight strap

The big man from Ohio bounced back in style to reclaim his title last night.

Stipe-Miocic-wins-at-UFC-241

By / UFC / 5 years ago

Stipe Miocic gained revenge for his knockout loss to Daniel Cormier at UFC 226 last summer as he broke down, then finished, the UFC heavyweight champion to become a two-time heavyweight champion after a thrilling fight at UFC 241 in Anaheim, California.

Cormier started the better of the two, landing a huge slam on Miocic and looking the sharper man in the striking exchanges. But Miocic stayed in the fight and, after switching his attention to Cormier’s body, he made the crucial breakthrough.

After losing each of the opening three rounds on our unofficial scorecard, Miocic hammered Cormier to the midsection in the fourth and hurt the defending champ enough to force “DC” to drop his hands. That was all the invitation Miocic needed as he switched from body to head, fired off huge punches and finished his man with just under a minute to go in the round.

It was a brilliant display from the Ohio firefighter and paramedic, who resumed his place on the heavyweight throne as he proved that he is the best heavyweight champion in UFC history.

NATE DIAZ RETURNS IN STYLE AND CALLS OUT MASVIDAL

He’d been gone for three years, but Nate Diaz made his long awaited return to the octagon and put on a thrilling performance to defeat former UFC lightweight champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis, before calling for a fight with fellow fan favourite Jorge Masvidal.

Despite his lengthy layoff, Diaz looked like he hadn’t missed a beat as he outstruck and outgrappled Pettis to earn scores of 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 to claim a hugely popular win in the night’s welterweight co-main event bout.

And, after his win, he respectfully called out Masvidal, adding: “He’s a gangster, but he ain’t no West Coast gangster!”

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COSTA EDGES ROMERO IN THREE ROUND WAR

Brazilian adonis Paulo “The Eraser” Costa did something very few fighters have been able to do – stand toe to toe with Cuban monster Yoel Romero for three full rounds and still finish the fight in one piece.

His middleweight clash with “The Soldier of God” delivered the goods as both men threw bombs at each other for the full 15-minute duration, with Costa earning the unanimous decision with scores of 29-28 on all three cards. The crowd didn’t agree but the fight was incredibly close as Costa picked up the biggest win of his MMA career.

After the fight, he Brazilian used his post-fight interview to hail his opponent before calling for a title fight against the winner of the upcoming middleweight title unification battle between Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya.

If the UFC grants him his wish, whoever faces him in that title fight will certainly have their hands full.

SUPER SODIQ CONTINUES WINNING RUN

Nigerian star Sodiq Yusuff scored a huge stoppage win over Gabriel Benitez to extend his unbeaten run as a UFC fighter to four in a row with a huge KO.

Both men throw heavy leather from the very start of the contest, but and Benitez briefly wobbled Yusuff before “Super” Sodiq unleashed a huge right hook that found a home on the Mexican’s chin as he delivered a crowd-pleasing finish.

 

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