In what is the most significant MMA fight in Croatian combat history since the night Mirko CroCop faced Fedor in the Pride ring some 9 years ago.Saturday night in Phoenix, Arizona, Stipe Miocic will face #1 contender and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos. This is by far the biggest fight in Miocic’s career to date and it has title shot implications written all over it. Dos Santos is the clear favorite in this fight, as he has cleaned out the whole division for one exception, and that exception is the current Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez.
Crippler’s Breakdown of the Fight
Experience – Experience in this fight has to go to Dos Santos. Though their records are not that different in terms of fights, Dos Santos has had the bigger fights on the bigger stage. Also he is the former Heavyweight Champion which just adds to the experience level here.
Striking- This part of the fight is probably the hardest to judge as both men are exceptional strikers. In my opinion the exchanges on the feet can go either way here. I think overall boxing technique goes to Miocic but the power advantage has to go to Dos Santos. He is a beast and if he connects on anybody in the heavyweight division they could be going to sleep. Miocic is more of a technical high output type fighter. Miocic will outstrike his opponents with his superb footwork,angles and cardio with a pressure type style.
Ground Game- This part of the fight is a little bit of a mystery as both men haven’t had to really implement much of a ground game to date. On paper Miocic is the superior wrestler and should use that in this fight if he wants to succeed. Dos Santos on the other hand has good take down defense and has a decent jiu jitsu game also. If Stipe can mix up his boxing and wrestling much like Velasquez did against Dos Santos he may surprise a lot of people Saturday night.
Confidence/Ring Rust- As much as Junior Dos Santos says he is ready and 100% mentally strong for this fight, I doubt it. In his last outing he was beaten down bad by Cain Velasquez. Also due to injuries he has not stepped into the Octagon in over a year and that leads to ring rust. These in my opinion are the biggest advantages for Miocic. The Croatian has been on a tear lately winning his last 3 fights against big named opponents and his confidence has never been greater. If Stipe can get into Dos Santos head early in the fight he may be able to take the Brazilians heart out of the fight.
The odds makers and experts aren’t giving Miocic a chance to win this fight but I think they may be wrong in dismissing Miocic that easy. Every time Stipe steps into that cage he is a better fighter. He is continually evolving and getting better at every facet of the fight game. I for one can attest to this as I have attended his training camps and seen the difference from the first time we met over 3 years ago to the present day. He is like a sponge in training and an unbelievable athlete. He has excellent coaches especially head coach Marcus Marinelli. Marinelli is a tactician of the fight game and comes up with perfect game plans every fight which gives Stipe a real chance to upset the former champ. It all comes down to Saturday night as they headline the UFC on Fox card. Can Stipe Miocic take out the Brazilian Junior Dos Santos and get one step closer to that UFC Title? We shall find out in two days.
You can follow me on Twitter @ CroCrippler or on Facebook @ Croatian Crippler
was prioud of Stipe, Cigano is a BEAST and in my op[inion 2 best mma fighter so I believe Stipe was fuken brilliant.
Why would stipe get a fight with browne or werdum? He’s coming off a loss and they both won their last fights. Stipe vs hunt Browne vs junior werdum vs cain is much better. Take a look at junior s chin in 5 years than you can compare it to an aged cro cop.
He also cleaned Crocop early in his UFC career. Stipe gave him his worst beating since Velasquez hands down. I think either do a rematch or stipe vs travis brown or even maybe werdum if injuries stop cain and jds
Difference between JDS and Crocop is he has a chin unlike Mirko. Also as one dimensional he may be, he has cleaned out the ufc heavyweight division.
JDS is just like crocop. They both are one dimensional fighters with one shot ko power. I couldn’t believe they had stipe as a 5-1 underdog. Its too bad stipe gassed bc the fight was all his.
The problem for stipe was that the take down attempts didn’t score. However, his strategy was excellent because he was making jds back up and tire himself out defending the take downs. Stipe was careless in the 3rd when he came in with his hands down and got dropped. Even though he was dropped he sprung back up.
The main reason the refs gave the last 2 rounds to jds is because the momentum was on his side after the knockdown. The fight easily could have been scored draw. Its too bad because Stipe deserved to win that fight.
Going forward i think he should fight Mark hunt in australia next. That would be a huge fight considering the size of the australian diaspora and the fact that Hunt has a huge name .
First of all I don’t trust the punch stats because it’s subjective. For example, the announcers were giving credit to JDS for round house rights that Miocic was clearly blocking with his arms.
It seems the judges scored the fight as though JDS was the champ whereby he got the benefit of the doubt in every close round, which was 4 out 5. The only clear cut round was the second, which Miocic won.
Slight edge to Miocic in #1, he clearly won #2, JDS won #3, Miocic won #4 & since I gave the edge to Miocic in #1, then I’m obligated to give JDS #5 b/c I thought these two rounds were the closest of the fight. I assume UFC uses the 10 point must system, so that’s why I don’t call those rounds a draw.
I can’t understand why Miocic’s corner didn’t tell him to abandon trying to take JDS down after round 2 as he clearly out boxed JDS in round 2 and wasn’t successful in his take down attempts after several tries. Plus, the constant lunging forward & trying to take down a man as big and strong as you unsuccessfully obviously gassed Miocic more than JDS considering all JDS is doing staying on his feet, which simply takes less exertion, unless you get put on your back.
And anybody who fights JDS should throw short compact left hooks inside those round house rights of JDS.
To be honest I only watched it because it was free and I’m Croatian of course rooting for Croat, which made of think of the oddity of the Overeem Struve fight. Basically, the Dutch trained a Negro to beat up one of their own kind. I just don’t get that.
By the way this is coming from someone who has one of the toughest names to pronounce and has been butchered and spelled incorrectly whole life.
I still dont get the pissyness of that some have when american mispronounce the foreign names. One this is america and two go ask ur family in cro to say the name george, jessica, etc
@Zivacuntistina. You’ve got to be the biggest POS hrvat on the planet.
You shouldn’t need a copy, the “za dom…..spremni” lifestyle is something that is a natural instinct. You shouldn’t need a copy of it.
where in the ZDS lifestyle handbook does it say to live a ZDS life you have to be a giant douche bag? perhaps you could be so kind and send everyone a copy for bowzich;)
lol try being a Danijel growing up
So, you are proud of being a hrvat after watching a non-speaking hrvat on tv……..Ok, then?
Stipe Miocic legenda Hrvatsko srce!
Bravo Stipe! I’m proud of being a Croat after that performance last night. He stood toe to toe with one of the best in this world.
It doesn’t matter what the fuck those stupid refs thought Stipe gave him a beating. To quote Geaorge Culavo after he fought Ali “I went out for beers with a couple of girls he went to the hospital”. Love you Stipe!!
Ante = Aun-tay
Jebi ga
The announcers were okay in pronouncing his name.
I remember in earlier fights they were pronouncing it:
“Stee-pay My-o-sick”…which was absolutely brutal to hear.
Now it’s more like “Stee-pay Miochik” or “Stee-pay Miochich”.
They, for the most part, got the last name right (I think it was only one dude still pronouncing the last ‘c’ as a ‘k’). Though they still have that caker North American inability to pronounce short vowels, so the first name will always be Stee-pay.
Now you know how I feel when in Cro and diaspora hrvati are visiting in the summer months. They try to order food and drinks and hold conversation and just cant do it.
on another note.. i haven’t really seen any of the women ufc fights… are they worth watching? i gave up with this sport as only interested in any cros but i thought i could give it a shot again…. its just hard cause isn’t it like ufc 3004 by now… it seems like its every week and every time i hear about it sounds more and more like wrestling with some rigged figure skating judges
i guess before it was more special when there wasn’t a fight every week
I hate those comments like who is the stipe dude… and you know they are saying “Sty-pee”
Not like he came out of know where… I was at a bar watching it unfortunately and I could hear the douche bags saying this is over in the first… they had a different tone by the end.
Well if nothing this legit puts him in the top 3-4. He has to get another shot… Id love to see him beat up that horse steroid cocky overeem
Yea, every time he looked up at the clock I was like “dude! pay attention!”. I was afraid of Dos Santos clocking him with a right hand while he was looking up.
But this fight confirms that Stipe simply cannot be knocked out. That Dos Santos punch in the third would’ve ended any fight. The fact that Stipe managed to not only avoid being knocked out, but to somehow recover back on his feet shortly after (with Dos Santos trying to move in and take the advantage) says alot.
Stipe is a golden gloves boxer and a wrestler who also has an iron chin. That combo makes him extremely dangerous. I liked Cro Cop, but Cro Cop couldn’t wrestle and has somewhat of a glass chin having been knocked out a few times by some virtual unknowns. His ground defense was solid, he was an excellent striker with a murderous left leg, and was very exciting to watch in his prime. But Stipe is simply a more complete fighter.
You should read the comments section of every article relating to this fight. People are stunned at how good Stipe was and want to see more of him. The word ‘scary’ was thrown around a lot. He did have that scary look on his face in the ring as he was stalking the heavily-bleeding Dos Santos throughout the match.
@ Crippler
I agree. I know how hard he trains. The most important thing is that he has this fight under his belt and he can move forward with greater experience and confidence. Huge respect earned. He won the first 2 rounds and 5th I have a slight advantage to Stipe.
This probably doesn’t mean anything but Stipe might have looked at the clock a little too much. That sort of thing could annoy a judge just enough to give a round to the other guy, when it’s that close. I’m only mentioning it because it kind of annoyed me. I don’t know..
Does anyone have a link to watch the fight. I missed. 🙁
Stipe was unbelievable last night…getting better and better…iron jaw…the score card was a joke!!! they gave him two rounds…Pride of north American Croatians! this fight needs a rematch!!!! Bravo Stipe your a champ in my eyes brother!
The stamina issue wasnt his conditioning at all trust me I know the way he trains probably one of the hardest working heavyweights in the world. I personally think the pressure of a main even with title shot implications and nervousness plus a gruelling war of a fight all contributed to it. The thing is in the 5th he was still walking forward throwing so I dunno.
It was a great fight and I’m glad I didn’t have to pay$$ to watch it.
Bottom line, Stipe was too gassed to finish him off. He should have won. That’s tough to say because you know how hard he trained. I guess you’re never prepared enough for a 5-rounder. Dos Antos might be the best fighter in the world and Stipe showed he can go toe-to-toe with anyone. He’ll hover around top 3-5 heavyweights and will get another shot as long as he doesn’t loose to any bozos.
This performance if anything legitimizes Miocic as a top 3 in the world right now. No one has been able to last with Dos Santos and beat him up that bad other then the champ. The fight could of went either way but I had Miocic sneaking by with the decision. The knockdown by Dos Santos would give him that round not the fight. Its scored round by round. 49-46 dos santos is a true travesty to the legitimacy of the sports judging any way you look at that fight.
Dana White last night said Dos Santos will not be fighting again for a while because of the damage he took. I can say Miocic getting the interim title shot vs Werdum if Cain can not come back from injury soon enough.
Either way keep checking in as I plan on talking to Stipe on the record hopefully in a few days.
I thought he won the first two rounds, but you can also argue Dos Santos won one of them as well. It’s not totally out of possibility.
@danny j………Miocic is not from Bjezigrad. From what I have read, he has been to cro once in his life and is born in the US and doesn’t speak the cro language. So, saying he is one Bjezigrad’s very own is insulting to him. There is nothing “bjezaj-ing” about him.
I can see Stipe getting someone like Hunt, Overeem or Struve.
who said he is from zadar i guess he don’t have that bjezigrad gene in him ziva huh?
i didn’t realize there can be draws..i think it should have been a draw
not homer glasses i say he won 1 and 2 rounds and then probably the 3rd
as i was saying during the fight tie goes to the champ we all know that
i think he would need more fights now Ante but surely that fight does not drop him down in seedings it can’t possibly
stipe had him on the ropes a few times… ya not finishing level but was on the offensive a few times
great fight… warrior… if cro cop could take the punishment that stipe can he would have faired better in ufc
So what happens now? Is Stipe now not a contender to fight for the championship? A rematch? More fights to become the #1 contender?
Good effort by Miocic. To be fair, I never thought Dos Santos was in trouble and I think the right man won the fight. Credit to Miocic going all five and providing Dos Santos with a tough fight.
I hear and understand the stamina criticism, but how on earth can anyone have stamina to fight a beast for 25 minutes. It’s not normal.
Stipe was very impressive tonight.
He bloodied up Dos Santos pretty badly after those first two rounds. Stipe didn’t even have a scratch on his face until maybe the 4th round. At that point, half of Dos Santos’ face was gushing blood.
Stipe lost this fight due to his lack of stamina. He never fought a full five rounds before in his life. He was completely gassed after that third round, and kept looking at the clock every 30 seconds during the fight. Both guys were gassed pretty early in this fight, but then again, these are two monsters out there known for settling things in the first round.
They gave the fight to Dos Santos simply due to that one punch in the third that dropped Miocic to the ground (to which he surprisingly recovered from pretty well). Any fighter in the world right now (including Cain Velasquez) would have been knocked out by that punch. Stipe Miocic has an iron jaw for being able to eat that punch.
Dos Santos is arguably the best fighter in the world, and he looked VERY mortal against Miocic. Very surprised at how well Stipe took his shots, most guys would have dropped after just one of the few shots Dos Santos nailed him with. He was seemingly unfazed from any of Dos Santos’ punches except for that one in the third round.
I had my doubts, but Stipe definitely deserves that #4 ranking in the MMA world right now. I hope he gets another shot at a top dog in the future.
I understand that these are big dudes, but the way they were gassed after a few round of moving around is quite pathetic. What exactly do they train for when half these heavyweight fights that go more than two rounds the fighters are both gassed and ruins the fight.
The only issue I have is the score of 49-46, honestly it was a toss up of 48-47, neither guy really deserved to win/loss that fight. it was quite even overall. Both looked sloppy after the got tired, and left themselves open to a lot of punishment. If Miocic wants to be a champion one day, he needs to work on his stamina. Only thing that held him back in this fight was his stamina, he had JDS beat until he got tired and dropped his hands and JDS started to land some punches.
On a side note, until MMA fixes the judging, MMA is almost on the same level as wrestling. People say boxing is a scam and a joke, UFC has judging issues almost every 2nd event. I haven’t wasted a night out to watch these horrible PPV events because of it, and the UFC and commissions are doing nothing to fix it. Way to WWE for my liking.
Ya but that is only scored for that round. So even if he got that round there is no way Stipe only won one round as the judges seen it.
I think what got him the victory was that he dropped Stipe and scored a second takedown.
Stipe should of taken that 3 rounds to 2. Judges giving a 49-46 should be charged for fraud. Even if Stipe lost a split decision somehow,he did not only win one round.
and you had idiots on this site saying he would be knocked out or pummelled.
Stipe fought a great fight and it was a lot closer.
Close fight based on the scoring, but I haven’t seen it.
Official Result: Junior dos Santos def. Stipe Miocic via unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46)
Dos santos wins by KO
Dos Santos Round 1 KO
BOOK IT!
This is gonna be on fox.
i dont know the sport, but i want the hrvat to win ! easy !
Unrelated to Stipe’s fight.
Croatia fined and partial stadium ban for problems at San Siro.
The longer this fight goes the better for Stipe. I think JDS will look to end this early so if Stipe can weather the storm in the first round he stands a good chance.
Experience has to go to JDS but I Stipe has shown he can hang with te big boys in the UFC. This is definitely his biggest test so far though.
I think JDS is too much for him this time though and wins either a late KO or decision. But I think Stipe will stay with him through the fight and it will be a close one.
Man, Miočić’s career just took off.
He was nothing when he was first being reported on here, and he was already in his late 20s. Simply being a UFC fighter was a big achievement. Now he’s fighting the number 1 contender, likely for a shot at the title?
Even if he gets pummelled in this fight, his career was a huge success. Hopefully he invested that money well.
Ha, literally says right there the fight will be on Fox. I was so excited, I forgot to finish reading.
@Danny J
I think Miocic at this stage in his career takes any version of Crocop. Huge fan of Mirko but 80% of his wins were against chumps. He had a lot of guys beat before they even entered the ring much like Tyson early on.
Any idea what time/channell/ppv network this is gonna be on? I gotta throw some cash on this! Wanna watch it too.
@Ziva
I can validate that post 100%.
@everyone
Whats everyones prediction here for the fight. Lets hear it.
Cro cop was smece in the UFC version of organized after school back yard fight club. He stole money and is a fraud. If any of you ever get to cro and meet some people in the after school back yard fight club community in Zagreb, ask hem how Cro cop treats the people who work for him. You will be surprised.
u guys think miocic takes cro cop when cro cop is prime?
i don’t think prime but def ufc cro cop has no chance with miocic
Slam it!
Lay it all on Miocic!
What say you croatian sports dot com nation……..I don’t know much about organized after school back yard fight club, so I will rely on you guys.
I have some money to play and plan to bet on this……what should I do??