In the co-main event of UFC on Fox 10, Stipe Miocic faced off against former heavyweight contender Gabriel Gonzaga. Napao got off to a good start disrupting Miocic’s rhythm with activity and a takedown while looking for the power shot. He gassed in the second round, though and Miocic took over to win the decision.
Gonzaga showed his strategy early with a trio of leg kicks inside the first minute of the opening round. Stipe stayed on the outside looking for the counter. Gonzaga caught a Miocic low kick but was unsuccessful following up with a takedown. Gonzaga continued to be the more active fighter, landing leg kicks and jabs before Miocic could get his strikes off. Takedown from Gonzaga, but he was not able to hold Miocic down.
Gonzaga opened the second with another set of leg kicks. Miiocic sprawled on a takedown attempt before Gonzaga sat out and got back to his feet. Miocic increased his activity on a visibly slowed Gonzaga. He started working his jab well while mixing in his straight right. Gonzaga was barely throwing by the last 90 seconds of the round. Miocic continued to consistently hit him with jabs and straight punches. Miocic closed the round with a strong shot to the body.
Early in the final round, Gonzaga was clearly hunting for that big right hand. Miocic was able to avoid it and continued with his volume over power strategy. Gonzaga slipped and ended up on his back. Miocic was appropriately wary of heading to the ground in chose his shots before moving into postured half-guard. He delivered some solid ground and pound before the bell sounded.
Stipe Miocic earned the unanimous decision (30-27 x 2, 29-28) over Gabriel Gonzaga.
Miocic wanted to extended his win streak to two fights since giving up his first ever career loss to Stefan Struve at UFC on Fuel TV 5. Since returning to the promotion at UFC 142, Gonzaga had gone 4-1 prior to this fight.
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