Now that Stipe Miocic has set the record for the most UFC heavyweight title defenses, he’s officially being marketed as the “baddest man on the planet.” It’s a moniker that uses highly-scientific MMA Mathematical formulas in order to determine who would win against all other comers on an even playing field.
But such hypotheticals, mostly used by fans, are useless to Miocic. He’s down to earth almost to a fault. In the fight business dominated by the flashy, loud Conor McGregors of the world, his quiet midwestern confidence is a rarity.
Miocic has the air of a man who says all he needs to in the gym, to his coaches, the only people that matter when it comes time to step into the Octagon. It’s almost as if Miocic just wants to win so he can get home to Northeast Ohio and his pregnant wife and think about mowing his lawn. For Miocic, the Superfight with UFC light heavyweight champ and undefeated heavyweight Daniel Cormier is just another date on the calendar.
“I’m working, with a baby on the way, and I got to get together in the next couple days and get the registry ready,” Miocic tells Uproxx on behalf of Modelo. “I got my new lawn mower mount. I’m excited; I just wish it would stop snowing and start getting warmer so I can cut the grass. It’s the worst.”
It’s moments like this in when Miocic sounds like he’s the world’s most dangerous excited kid. His voice speeds up to an almost indecipherable rapid-fire collection of words. But when the subject of his legacy comes up, or that “Baddest Man on the Planet” title is mentioned, he slows. Each word becomes a brushing off of the reality he’s created for him and his family.
“You know it’s cool, but like I don’t worry about that,” Miocic says. “All I care about is getting ready for Cormier’s challenge. It’s cool to make history. And I’ve done it, I did it, and it’s a great accomplishment, and I’m super happy,” he says, sounding like he’s ready to stop talking about himself. His working-man aesthetic is on full display in the new Modelo ad campaign, which highlights his full-tilt blue-collar backstory, as well as his new career in the spotlight as a dominant champion.
The fact is, Miocic is indeed in the greatest of all-time conversation if he can defeat Daniel Cormier at UFC 226. Only one man has been able to defeat Cormier: Jon Jones. For Miocic, he just considers the GOAT talk a matter of opinion. He seems focused only on a few things: his family, his fight, and his home.
“It’s just everyone’s opinion of that stuff,” Miocic says. “Some people say, ‘greatest of all time,’ some people say ‘no’. Honestly, let’s focus on Cormier, we’ll figure it out after.”
So how is Stipe now going to neutralize a guy who’s only been neutralized by the best in Jon Jones? He asks us with his typical, dry, sense of humor. When we answer: “stay far away from him and punch him in the face,” he concedes and suddenly goes back into his machine gun sentences.
“That’s a good game plan,” Miocic offers. “He’s great all around, he’s someone who can knock you out, great wrestling, of course. He’s not the best in the world at everything. So, we’ll figure it out and we’ll all get a good gameplan watching if we can, and start talking and figure stuff out, start watching the film and figuring it all out. That’s what we usually do, and walk in and we’ll have a great game plan. We’ll set the tone that I need to play for the fight like we always do.”
It’s clear that Miocic’s passions come from conquering goals one at a time, and he’s letting his resume do the marketing for him. He’s a part-time firefighter, has 13 knockouts, and has no use for trash talk as a tool for building a fight.
“That’s the way I was raised, you know,” he explains.
In a telling segue, Miocic immediately moves from speaking about how his immigrant mother raised him with a sense of quiet honor, to his coaches who have become his second family.
“That’s why I love my coaches and Marcus Marinelli so much because we’re kinda old school,” Miocic says. “They’re just hard working people that make great friends.It’s a mid-western UFC, we’re just nice people.”
Nice people who happen to be extremely dangerous martial artists.
In fact, Miocic respects the men that have guided his career so much that he didn’t allow Dana White to wrap the UFC belt around his waist after a grueling 25-minute win against the monstrous Francis Ngannou. When asked about how his coaches have kept him grounded while making sure he was still the hardest worker in the gym every day despite being on top of the UFC, he says the F-word again. No not that F-word, the other one.
“I have a great family,” Miocic says of his entire team. “We take it in stride. We don’t overstep ourselves. We’re just making sure everything’s right and go one foot after the other.”
Eventually, Miocic’s allegories to remaining on a path, taking things as they come, and going step by step start sounding as if he’s describing his weekend landscaping routine again.
Maybe that sums up Miocic’s philosophy well: Zen and the Art of Face Punching and Lawn Care.
