Stipe Miocic is an American born Mixed Martial Artist who is currently the UFC Heavyweight Champion. He will be defending his title against Francis Ngannou on January 20th. Stipe Miocic was born on August 19, 1982, in Euclid, Ohio, Stipe was always a huge fan of fighting growing up competing in Boxing and Wrestling. He won Cleveland Golden Gloves for boxing and wrestled Division 1 in college. With his ability to strike and strength on the ground, a career in MMA was the logical career path for Stipe. Let’s take a look at how the current Heavyweight Champion got to where he is.
Stipe Miocic Net Worth: $2 Million
Early Years
Stipe Miocic grew up an athlete, he was always playing sports, and besides wrestling and boxing, he also loved completing Football and Baseball. In fact, he had interest from Major League Baseball teams throughout his collegiate years at Cleveland State University and Trevecca Nazarene University. After College Miocic didn’t go right into MMA, he spent time working as a firefighter and a paramedic in Oakwood and Valley View, Ohio. Then Miocic realized his true calling was of mixed martial arts.
Pre-UFC (2006-2011)
Stipe got his MMA Career off to a stellar start, but it didn’t start in the UFC like so many fighters careers have. Stipe got his start in the NAAFS, which was an Ohio based MMA fighting league. He won his first five fights all by knockout and all very convincing. Miocic went on to become World Heavyweight Champion in NAAFS. After dominating NAAFS and not really earning enough money to support his family, Stipe decided it was time to crank things up a notch.
Early UFC Career (2011-2016)
By 2011 Miocic had caught the eye of Dana White, The President, and owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championships, which is the biggest MMA fighting league in the world. Miocic signed with the UFC on a multi-fight deal. His UFC debut game was against the Joey Beltran on Oct 8th, 2011, at UFC 136. He won the fight but it was not easy, he was awarded the victory via unanimous decision and thus began a great career of MMA.
Stipe recorded his first bonus in his second career fight knocking out veteran fighter Phil De Fries. He knocked out De Fries in the first round and earned ‘Knockout of the Night’ honors and the bonus money that comes along with it. In his third fight, Stipe was knocked out in the 2nd round, but both fighters were still awarded ‘Performance of the Night’ Honors, and each got an added bonus.
Champion Life (2016-present)
On May 14, 2016, he faced the current Heavyweight Champion Fabrício Werdum at UFC 198. Stipe not only beat Werdum but he knocked him out to claim the UFC Heavyweight Title! this was Werdum’s first loss since June 2011. Miocic earned the Championship as well as the Performance of the Night Bonus which ends up being around $30,000-$50,000.
Stipe successfully defended his title against Alistair Overeem in September 2016 and against Junior dos Santos in May 2016. Stipe went home with additional bonuses in both fights: ‘Fight of the Night’ against Overeem and a ‘Performance of the Night’ against dos Santos
Stipe has compiled some fantastic career accomplishments.
Accolades:
UFC Heavyweight Championship
Title Defenses: 2
Fight of the Night: 3 (Stefan Struve, Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem)
Performance of the Night: 4 (Fabio Maldonado, Andrei Arlovski, Fabricio Werdum and Junior dos Santos)
Knockout of the Night: 1 (Phillip De Fries)
Records:
Most Heavyweight Title Defenses: 2
Most Strikes Landed in a Single Fight: 361 vs. Mark Hunt
Most Knockout Victories in UFC Heavyweight Division: Ranks 2nd with 8
