UFC champion Stipe Miocic is still working shifts as a firefighter with just over two weeks to go until he takes on Daniel Cormier in their highly anticipated trilogy fight at UFC 252.
Miocic’s firefighting job has been public knowledge for a few years now, with many wondering how he can balance that role alongside being one of the best heavyweights in combat sports history. Either way, it doesn’t seem as if the impending threat of facing Cormier for a third time is impacting him all too much.
As revealed by ESPN’s Marc Raimondi, he’s still taking on shifts – even as the August 15 date for their showdown looms large.
Had a chat today with Stipe Miocic’s fire captain, Ken Papesh. I asked him when Miocic’s last shift was at the firehouse before UFC 252. His answer: “What do you mean? He’s working tomorrow night.”
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“DC” was able to get the best of Miocic in their first fight back in 2018, but last year, Stipe got his revenge and reclaimed the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
Now, almost twelve months later, Cormier understands the mistakes he made in the rematch.
“I think it’s more pronounced because I want to win so badly and I feel like I just fumbled so bad,” Cormier said on ESPN, looking back on his loss to Miocic (transcript via MMA Fighting). “I fumbled really bad last time. I fumbled in a lot of ways. I was so distracted with everything going on in my life and I was so focused on coaching and all these other things that I kind of just fumbled. I fumbled bad and I wasn’t prepared as I needed to and I got tired. Like, I got tired. I can admit it. I got tired. He hit me with those shots in the end, he hurt me to the body and he hurt me to the head and I didn’t react because my body couldn’t react because I was so tired, and I will not allow that to happen again. If he ever finds a way to hurt me, I need to fight back like I did in every other instance in my entire life. I didn’t do that last time and it sits with me every single day.”
“That’s why everybody is like, ‘Man, you’ve always got people around you.’ Because it sucks to be around my thoughts,” Cormier added, opening up on the regret he feels about the Miocic loss. “When I’m just stuck with my thoughts a lot of time, I start thinking about the things that I didn’t do that got me beat last time.”
Do you think Stipe Miocic will defend the heavyweight title at UFC 252?