Eight years ago today, UFC’s Stipe Miocic laid out one of his greatest rivals in no time.
The retired two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion was all-action in his first title run where he won five-straight fights by knockout, four of those coming inside of the opening round.
Stipe Miocic quickly became one of, if not the greatest heavyweight of all time, by setting the record for most heavyweight title defenses with a five-round domination of Francis Ngannou in 2018.
Right before that, Miocic avenged one of his two career losses to former heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos – the only man to defeat Miocic over the distance in 25 fights.
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Stipe Miocic flipped kill switch on Junior Dos Santos in 2 minutes
Dos Santos beat Miocic in the five-round main event of UFC on FOX 13 back in 2014. Both men received ‘fight of the night’ honors.
The heavyweights would run it back for the title years later at UFC 211 on May 13, 2017 in Dallas, Texas, the same night Joanna Jedrzejczyk set a UFC title fight record against Jessica Andrade.
Dos Santos chipped away at Miocic with brutal leg kicks that had the champion limping afterwards.
After eating a few kicks, Miocic quickly tried to close the distance and threw combos with JDS backed up to the cage.
Miocic continued to hunt down Dos Santos on the feet and two minutes into the round, Miocic fired a right hand that got the former champ’s attention. With Dos Santos’ back towards the cage, Miocic cracked him with a right hand that sent him down to the canvas. (Watch the KO in slow-mo at 2:02)
Miocic teed off on Dos Santos with ground and pound, looking at the referee, Herb Dean, to stop the contest before he eventually did.
“Too f—— easy!” Miocic said as he celebrated on top of the cage.
Joe Rogan said Stipe Miocic’s shin was a ‘mess’ from leg kicks
Miocic avenged his last loss to Dos Santos in a matter of minutes but the champion didn’t come out of the fight unscathed.
Miocic’s shin was badly bruised by Dos Santos’ leg kick attacks.
“His shin is a mess,” UFC commentator Joe Rogan said of Miocic post-fight.
“I mean, it almost looks like it’s broken,” Rogan added.
‘That s— sucked,” Miocic said of Dos Santos’ leg kicks in his post-fight interview.
“That was terrible, it hurt. It was a good gameplan,” Miocic added.