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Stipe Miocic could be the 'Stone Cold' champion UFC needs

Miocic's not-so-subtle feud with president Dana White could be just what the UFC needs.
Credit: Bob DeChiara, USA Today Sports Images
UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic is proud to carry the banner for Cleveland and Clevelanders.

After masterfully tiring out Francis Ngannou en route to a victory by way of unanimous decision, the most important move Stipe Miocic made at UFC 220 in Boston on Saturday night came after his arm had already been raised.

Eschewing UFC tradition, Miocic grabbed his Heavyweight Championship belt -- which he had just defended for a record third time -- out of the hands of company president Dana White, handing it to his coach, Marcus Marinelli, to place around his waist.

Miocic's actions didn't go unnoticed, be it online or on press row. MMA message boards lit up with analysis of the Cleveland native's peculiar post-fight action and Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel penned a column detailing the recent strife between Miocic and White.

Per Wetzel:

The UFC, the Miocic camp felt, saw this night as some kind of coronation, the start of the Ngannou era, where this mountain of a man would deliver a Mike Tyson-style knockout to electrify the heavyweight division and future pay-per-view sales. There is little question the 6-4, 263-pound Ngannou can deliver the highlight-reel finishes due to his supreme power.

The Yahoo columnist later added:

Yeah, Miocic was a bit salty after. He wasn’t interested in talking about Dana White, who he says denied they have a conflict going. He wasn’t interested in discussing how fights are promoted. He wasn’t interested in figuring out where he fit in the promotion’s star-making machine.

But while the UFC may think Miocic isn't marketable, as he favors Cleveland over Hollywood while maintaining his job as a firefighter in Independence, this past Saturday may have changed that.

No, not because "The Baddest Man on the Planet" can now lay claim to being the greatest heavyweight in UFC history -- although that doesn't hurt. And Saturday wasn't exactly Stipe's sexiest fight either, with his previous five coming by way of knockout.

Rather, it was Miocic's post-fight showing that may ultimately go down as his star-making performance.

In the late-90s, professional wrestling hit unprecedented heights thanks in large part to the feud between the 'every man,' "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and his boss, real-life WWE CEO Vince McMahon. The feud between Austin and McMahon resonated so deeply that the former's return for the 25th anniversary of Monday Night Raw this week has helped make for one of the most highly anticipated wrestling shows of the year.

As far as being an 'every man' is concerned, Miocic certainly has the part down, as evidenced by the following passage in Wetzel's column:

Taking a quick glance at the MMA message boards on Saturday, it was easy to see that Miocic had plenty of fan support in standing up to White.

"Did anyone else get as hyped as I did?," one message board poster in a thread titled 'When Stipe ripped the title from Dana's hands' wrote. "I enjoyed that more than any punch or choke tonight. I'm glad he's not letting Dana or the UFC off the hook for treating him like a step-child."

"One of my favorite moments in MMA history," another message read.

Inside the Octagon, Miocic has the cache and outside of it, he now has the character. And in a heavyweight division lacking star power, the unprecedented champion may finally have a feud worthy of mainstream attention.

It just so happens to be with the very organization he could soon be raising to new heights.

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