Stipe Miocic has released a statement for the first time since losing his heavyweight title to Francis Ngannou this past weekend at UFC 260 — Fightful has you covered on this story and all of the other news in the world of combat sports.
Stipe Miocic releases statement following loss to Francis Ngannou
Following his devastating knockout loss to Francis Ngannou this past weekend at UFC 260, the former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic has finally released a statement.
In the statement which Miocic put out on his Instagram account, he congratulated Ngannou on his victory but he did not give any hints as to what is next for him in his MMA career.
See the full statement from Miocic below.
Where Miocic goes from here is yet to be announced or decided, but whatever happens it is still very clear that he is still by far the greatest heavyweight champion the UFC has ever seen.
If Miocic does choose to retire it will see the end of the most decorated UFC heavyweight champion who won the belt on two different occasions, defended it four times which is more than any other UFC heavyweight champions and he also owns wins over some of the greatest of all time including fighters such as Daniel Cormier, Fabricio Werdum, and Alistair Overeem.
Vicente Luque reveals that he wanted to fight Jorge Masvidal but Kamaru Usman "took" the fight from him
Vicente Luque pulled off an extremely impressive submission win over the former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley at UFC 260.
In the UFC 260 post-fight press conference, Luque revealed that the fight he would've wanted after his one against Woodley would have been Jorge Masvidal but Masvidal is currently booked to fight Kamaru Usman in a rematch at UFC 261.
In the post-fight press conference, Luque said "the fight I really wanted, Kamaru took it."
Luque also went on to say “I wanted to fight Masvidal. I think that fight would be a banger. Our styles match up really good. That’s why also I called out Nate Diaz, I think our styles match perfectly and if he’s interested in coming out of retirement, I’ll not fight a top-five (opponent) to fight him (instead).
Luque also revealed that now that the fight with Masvidal can not happen and a fight with Diaz seems very unlikely, he has now turned his attention to top contenders such as Leon Edwards and Stephen Thompson.
Luque said “But my focus is on the top of the division. So I don’t know, Leon Edwards, (Stephen Thompson), two guys that beat me, I would love those rematches, but we’ll see. We’ll see, there are many fights up there, and I definitely want a high-level opponent right now.”
Who would you like to see Luque fight next?
Rashad Evans believes that Jon Jones is doing things "backwards" in his negotiations with the UFC
In the last few days since Francis Ngannou defeated Stipe Miocic, the former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones who is now moving up to heavyweight was very vocal on Twitter about not getting offered to be paid what he is truly worth.
Jones said on social media that he will gladly step into the Octagon against Ngannou but only if the UFC makes it worth his while financially.
Jones' former rival Rashad Evans believes that Jones gave up all of his negotiating power when he vacated the light heavyweight title and chose to become a heavyweight contender.
Speaking on the 1-2 podcast on NextGen Sports, Evans said "Jon Jones has already put himself in the position where he doesn’t have that negotiating tool. He’s given up the belt at 205, he’s already put on a ton of weight, a ton of size to fight at heavyweight.”
“So right now, if I was Jon’s team, that was something you kind of negotiate before you give up the belt and before you decide to make all these changes in your diet. To me, it seems kind of backward for him to now saying show me the money. Show me the money was when he was the UFC 205 champion and then he decided to go up. I don’t know, maybe sometimes Jon just doesn’t say the best things, you know what I’m saying? But hopefully, that fight gets done.”
Do you agree with Evans' comments?
Chael Sonnen believes that Jon Jones doesn't really want to fight Francis Ngannou
Another former rival of Jon Jones' is Chael Sonnen.
Sonnen has come out and said that he does not believe that Jones wants to fight Francis Ngannou.
In the build-up to UFC 260 it was made quite clear by the UFC president Dana White that the winner of the UFC 260 main event between Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou would likely fight Jon Jones next.
The former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight title challenger, Sonnen spoke about the situation on the UFC 260 post-fight show.
Sonnen said, “well when Jon Jones says show the money, same with anyone else when they say it, they mean I don’t want to fight."
Sonnen also went on to say “just because he doesn’t want to fight him doesn’t mean he won’t fight him. Jon Jones is a competitor and if you back him into a corner he is going to come out fighting."
Sonnen also went on to give a prediction on how he thinks the fight between Jones and Ngannou would go. He said “Look, I like the speed of Jones, I like the length of Jon Jones, I don’t believe Jon Jones is going to circle in front of the big man, I think he’s going to start picking him apart and he’s got the reach to do it. I also did see that one wrestling exchange and if Jones can get in on that single he could likely drag him down. However, if the big man the champion in Ngannou can stuff Jones’ takedowns, Francis will knock him out.”
Jake Paul believes that Conor McGregor needs to get one more win before they fight
YouTube star Jake Paul truly believes that he is Conor McGregor's biggest money fight in either MMA or boxing.
Paul is currently 2-0 as a professional boxer and is coming off a knockout win over former basketball player Nate Robinson.
After his fight with Robinson, Paul began to heavily call out McGregor but he is yet to receive any type of response from the Irishman.
Speaking to ESPN, Paul spoke about how he thinks that McGregor needs one more win before they can fight.
Paul said "I just think McGregor has that name where he will be big in this sport for a while. But, if he loses again to Poirier, I’ll be like ‘yo let me fight Poirier,’ why not? He has to win in his own sport first and then maybe we can figure something out."
Paul continued by saying “I’m Conor’s money fight right now as crazy as that sounds. Khabib retired, he’s all pissed off about it. Jake Paul vs. Conor McGregor is the money fight. It’s funny, what world are we living in where that even makes sense?”
What do you make of Paul's comments?
Adrian Yanez hopes he can fulfill his childhood dream of fighting at the Toyota Center at UFC 262
Ever since he was a child, UFC bantamweight Adran Yanez had a dream of fighting at the Toyota Center.
That dream could finally come true for him as the UFC is heading to the Toyota Center in May at UFC 262 and Yanez is in a good position to get on the card.
In an exclusive interview with BjPenn.com Yanez spoke about his dreams to fight at the Toyota Center and who he would like to fight there.
Yanez said “I would really like to be on that May 15 card in Houston. I didn’t know Nate Maness was booked so I’d like to fight Davey Grant. He has two good KO’s and that would be a really good fight.”
Yanez continued “To me, it is more just about fighting on the card. I grew up dreaming about fighting at the Toyota Center, every time my dad took me to train, we saw it on the Highway and I promised him I would fight there one day. It would be a dream come true to make that happen and fight in front of my hometown crowd.”
Would you like to see Adrian Yanez vs Davey Grant?
Paddy Pimblett officially signs with the UFC
After years of speculation and multiple offers from the UFC, Cage Warriors star Paddy "The Baddy" Pimblett has finally accepted an offer from the UFC and he is now a part of the UFC's roster.
Pimblett is a former Cage Warriors featherweight champion and has looked the best he has ever looked in his last few fights which has ultimately seen him awarded with a UFC contract.
Both promotions announced on Monday that the deal was official and that Pimblett will finally become a UFC fighter.
An opponent or fight date for Pimblett is yet to be announced or decided but the hype around the debut of Pimblett in the UFC is going to be huge.
Alonzo Menifield reveals that he has been studying the "OSP choke" since 2007
Alonzo Menifield impressively submitted Fabio Cherant at UFC 262 with a von flue choke or otherwise known as the OSP choke.
In the UFC 260 post-fight press conference, Menifield revealed that he has actually been studying the choke since 2007.
Check out the clip below.
The UFC have parted ways with Brok Weaver and three other fighters
The UFC have made some more cuts to their roster including Brok Weaver and three other fighters.
The names of the three other fighters are yet to be confirmed but MMA Junkie are aware of the roster changes but the fighters have been asked to stay anonymous.
In late 2020 UFC president Dana White revealed that the UFC were going to be making around 60 cuts to their roster over the next few months and that began when Yoel Romero was shockingly released and then signed with Bellator.
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