Stipe Miocic

Stipe Miocic is part of the UFC elite. Current heavyweight champion — the second time he’s held the title — he has broken several UFC records and been hailed as one of the all-time great heavyweights. A former boxer and high-level wrestler, he has combined his skills in both to become one of the world’s most accomplished mixed martial artists. Despite his success and reputation, he still works part-time as a firefighter in his native Ohio.

Miocic was always a prolific athlete: At school, he was on the football, baseball, and wrestling teams. He was a successful collegiate wrestler and began training in mixed martial arts in his early 20s before switching to boxing. As a boxer, he quickly garnered a reputation for beating far-more experienced opponents. He reached the national quarter-finals of the Golden Gloves before moving back to MMA. He became Heavyweight Champion of Ohio’s MMA set-up, NAAFS, before being signed up by UFC in 2011. Miocic soon built a fearsome reputation, winning “Knockout of the Night” and “Performance of the Night” awards. In one 2015 bout, he set the record for both the most landed strikes highest strike ratio, hammering his opponent 361-48.

Miocic first won the UFC Heavyweight title in September 2016, defending it successfully until July 2018, creating a new record for the most successful title defences in UFC history. After controversially losing it to Daniel Cormier, he won it back at the first attempt, despite suffering retina damage in the process. A true UFC legend, he will be setting records for some time to come.