Given the unassuming nature of UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, it is perhaps fitting that the performance which earned him his title, a sensational knockout of Fabricio Werdum at UFC 198, has slid somewhat under the radar this year.
After all, this is the same guy who, despite being the Baddest Man on the Planet, continues working full-time as a fire fighter. It’s this blue-collar, grab-your-lunch-pail-and-go-to-work attitude that has endeared him to fans in his hometown of Cleveland and that may also have played a role in his relatively unheralded rise to UFC title contender.
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Going into UFC 198, the focus was around Fabricio Werdum and whether a win that night would cement him as the greatest heavyweight mixed martial artist of all time.