The Strange, Complex Legacy of Stipe Miocic

I've mentioned in a past article that I have no interest in discussing who is the “greatest of all time”, which is completely subjective, based on ill-defined criteria, and ultimately pointless. At the same time, it can often be useful to look at a great fighter's career and see what it represents, at least for oneself. And while he is not quite done, one of the most interesting such careers belongs to Stipe Miocic, not only for what it tells us about him, but about his division and the sport as a whole.

My acquaintance with the Croatian-American was different than that of most. While I had been a fan of MMA since 1995, when I was 8 years old, I stopped following it closely from 2010 to…