Stipe Miocic, a UFC heavyweight champion put on a dominant display over Francis Ngannou in the main event of UFC 220 on Saturday night, Jan. 20 from Boston. After Miocic’s criticism of the UFC’s allegedly unfair bias towards Francis Ngannou in the promotion for the event, Miocic did something unexpected directly after the fight.
However, UFC President Dana White generally places the UFC belt around the waist of the winning fighter inside the octagon, Miocic grabbed the belt from Dana White and gave it to his coach Marcus Marinelli to do instead.
Miocic was speaking at UFC 220 post-fight conference, where he offered his reasoning, why his coach places the belt on him.
(He’s) my dude. He respects me and I respect him. End of story.”
watch the moment unfold here:
While Miocic revealed he’s felt disrespected by White and the UFC in the past, he was careful about these feelings of disrespect when asked about them at the presser.
“I don’t know and I don’t really care. Where’s my coach at? Those dudes right there are my family. They all respect me and I respect them. They come with me. We go to war no matter what – win, lose or draw. That’s my family. We all respect each other no matter what the situation is.”
Earlier during the fight week, White claimed that he and Miocic had “butted heads” on a Boston radio show. Miocic has been vocal and said he is not satisfied with his contract since his first title defense against Alistair Overeem.
“No man, we’ll keep doing what we do. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I don’t really care. Honestly, I’ve got so much on my plate right now. I’m so happy with my beautiful wife and our child. I’m very lucky, I’ve got my coaches here and they’re amazing. Listen man, I don’t worry about repairing anything. I don’t know.
“I called him out when he said that we were butting heads. I called him out on that it was pretty funny. He was saying ‘What are you talking about?’ So, I don’t know. He denied it.”
What do you think UFC should accept Stipe Miocic as one of the best heavyweights and promote him even if he doesn’t agree to their entertainment-focused ideals?
