x
Breaking News
More () »

Stipe Miocic breaks UFC record with third straight defense of heavyweight title

Cleveland's Stipe Miocic broke the UFC record for the most consecutive defenses of the heavyweight championship with a unanimous decision win over Francis Ngannou in the main event of UFC 220 at the TD Garden in Boston Saturday night.
Cleveland's Stipe Miocic (red gloves) celebrates his win over Francis Ngannou (not seen) after UFC 220 at the TD Garden in Boston Saturday night.

The baddest man on the planet still resides in Cleveland.

Despite being an underdog once again, Cleveland native Stipe Miocic broke the UFC record with his third straight defense of the heavyweight championship in a dominant unanimous decision victory over top-ranked contender Francis Ngannou in the main event of UFC 220 at TD Garden in Boston Saturday night.

Miocic won the bout, 50-44, on all three of the judges' scorecards.

According to FightMetric, Miocic was successful with six of his 14 takedown attempts (42 percent), and used his grappling skills to have one-sided advantages in control and total strikes against the 263-pound Ngannou, who was unbeaten in his first six UFC bouts.

Miocic held control of Ngannou for 15 of the 25 minutes in The Octagon, and while in the clinch and guard, he landed many of his 200 strikes. Known as a judicious fighter, Miocic connected on 200 of his 244 strikes (82 percent) and 70 of his 95 significant hits (74 percent).

Conversely, Ngannou landed just 33 strikes in the entire bout and failed to lock in his only submission attempt.

Cleveland's Stipe Miocic (red gloves) walks out of the octagon after defeating Francis Ngannou (not seen) during UFC 220 at the TD Garden in Boston.

In his five previous fights, Miocic won by knockout or technical knockout, and four of those bouts ended in the first round. It was the first time Miocic went five rounds in a title fight, and only the third time in his career that he had gone past the fourth.

Miocic last went the distance against Junior dos Santos on December 13, 2014. Ngannou had never been out of the second round in his MMA career.

Including the win over Ngannou, Miocic has now won six straight fights, improved to 18-2 in his professional career, and is 12-2 in 14 bouts under the UFC banner.

Before You Leave, Check This Out