Stipe Miocic isn’t known for being boisterous or hyperbolic when things are going his way, and his attitude towards his first loss in three-and-a-half years was equally muted.
Coming off of his third consecutive successful defense of the UFC’s heavyweight championship, a promotional record, Miocic dropped the title to Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 226 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday. Miocic suffered a first-round knockout, an outcome that few could have predicted, even considering Cormier’s own sterling reputation.
Miocic and his wife are expecting their first child soon, and the former heavyweight king was asked at the evening’s post-fight press conference if impending fatherhood may have distracted him.