Stipe Miocic: All I Care About Is A Shot At The Title
Despite the controversial nature of his record-setting fifth round stoppage win over Mark Hunt in the main event of last Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 65 from Adelaide, Australia, No. 4-ranked Stipe Miocic firmly entrenched himself atop the short list of legit contenders to long dormant heavyweight crown with his biggest victory.
Miocic landed a total of 361 brutal strikes on Hunt, who was dehydrated from a massive weight cut and not putting up much, if any, form of defense in a viciously dominant third round for Miocic. Although most thought that the referee should have stopped Australian fan favorite Hunt from absorbing any more damage, he was perhaps incorrectly allowed to continue until the last round.
Describing his point of view to Submission Radio after the bout, Miocic proclaimed was simply thankful to get back into the win column regardless of how many or how few strikes he was forced to unleash:
“It was pretty cool man. You know it’s cool to be a part of something, but like I said, all I care about is getting that ‘W’ man, no matter how many punches. It could have been 10 punches; it could have been 4000. I don’t care. As long as I get the ‘W’.”
‘The Super Samoan’s’ corner also failed to throw in the towel, drawing the ire of many spectators in the process. But according to Miocic, they did the right thing as he would never allow his corner to stop a fight:
“No. I would never let them throw in the towel.”
However, it may not have been as bad as it looked, as Miocic said that Hunt actually said he was ‘fine’ in the middle of the bout as he continued to eat unanswered shots:
“I remember one time he did say, “I’m fine”. He said literally “I was fine” in the middle of the fight.”
The rising contender moved on to discuss his next bout, which may come against former Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem or the winner of UFC 187’s Travis Browne vs. Andrei Arlovski. According to Miocic, he doesn’t want to battle either of those opponents, instead shifting his focus to the next shot at the championship:
“Listen, I want a shot at the title. That’s all I care about.”
That title will finally be unified (hopefully) when long-injured champion Cain Velasquez meets interim champ Fabricio Werdum in the main event of June 13’s UFC 188 pay-per-view from Mexico City. Should Miocic face the winner, or does he still have something left to prove in order to get a title shot?
Photo Credit: Jason Silva-USA TODAY Sports
