CLEVELAND — Cleveland native and former UFC Heavyweight Champ Stipe Miocic spoke out two days after losing the title to Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 , explaining what happened in the fight and discussing what the near future holds for him.
Miocic took to Facebook to thank those close to him for their support and to apologize to fans for "letting you down."
"First and foremost, I’m okay. I know that fall wasn’t my most graceful fall, but I was unconscious, so it happens," Miocic joked. "To my family friends and fans, especially Croatia & Cleveland.. I love you and I’m sorry. I hate letting you down. To my team, thank you. I know you feel every loss just as much as I do. We win as a family, we lose as a family. Losses aren’t fun, they always sting for a while, but that’s the beast of this business. You can’t win them all, and it’s important to understand that losing is just as much a part of sports (and life) as winning."
Miocic was dropped by Ngannou twice early in the second, finishing the fight Saturday night 52 seconds into the round.
After Ngannou won the first round, Miocic recovered from his first knockdown in the second round and even landed a right hand that stung Ngannou, but Ngannou answered back with a left hook and dropped Miocic to the canvas again for the finish.
"Unfortunately, I deviated from game plan. I felt great coming into the second round, I saw it was beginning to go as planned. He was getting very winded, and I came in over zealous and unprotected. I wasn’t in a good posture to take the hit. He saw the opening, and did what any great fighter would have done," Miocic wrote. "That was my error that I accept, it won't happen again."
When Miocic will fight next is unclear, but while Ngannou prepares to defend the title in his next matchup, Miocic said he will be enjoying his downtime while preparing to welcome his son into the world this summer.
"Lastly, I’d like to congratulate @francisngannou and his team on a well earned victory. Saturday night was your night, enjoy your victory. For now, I’m going to enjoy the down time, spend some time with my family, and welcome our son into the world this summer... stay tuned, God bless," Miocic wrote.
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