Stipe Miocic: 5 Defining Moments

He broke up what was thought to be a logjam atop the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight division, the title spending the better part of six years resting on the shoulders of three men: Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum. Whether or not Stipe Miocic can avoid the fate of his predecessors remains to be seen.

Miocic will defend the heavyweight crown for the first time when he collides with former Strikeforce and Dream champion Alistair Overeem in the UFC 203 main event on Saturday at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. The Euclid, Ohio, native will do so a little more than 10 miles from where he grew up. Miocic has deep ties to The Buckeye State, as he was a two-sport standout -- he wrestled and played baseball -- at Cleveland State University. The 34-year-old Strong Style Fight Team representative will enter the cage on the strength of a three-fight winning streak, having compiled a stellar 9-2 record since he arrived on the scene in the UFC in 2011.

Though his career has been relatively short, Miocic has enjoyed his share of defining moments. Here are five that stand out:

1. Quieting 40,000-Plus

Miocic silenced a throng with one swing of his hammer. He knocked out Werdum to become the undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight titleholder in the UFC 198 headliner on May 14 at Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil. An unconscious Werdum hit the canvas 2:47 into round one, an eerie hush passing over the 40,000-plus fans in attendance. The two men traded punches and kicks before Werdum made his move -- and his mistake. The Kings MMA export charged forward and walked into a counter right hook from the backpedaling Miocic. His lights were out before he landed on the mat, his reign atop the heavyweight division and six-fight winning streak at an end.

2. Super Savagery

Before he cut down Andrei Arlovski in less than a minute to become the No. 1 contender for the heavyweight title, Miocic ran into Mark Hunt. He took care of the 2001 K-1 World Grand Prix winner with fifth-round ground-and-pound in their UFC Fight Night headliner on May 10, 2015, at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, Australia. Hunt, having absorbed a frightening amount of punishment across 20-plus minutes of combat, finally wilted 2:47 into round five. Clean boxing, repeated takedowns and heavy and efficient ground-and-pound were all on display for Miocic. He struck for takedowns in all five rounds, assumed a dominant position and chewed up Hunt with punches, elbows, forearm strikes and hammerfists. Rounds three and four were complete blowouts, and the fifth was headed in the same direction before referee John Sharp decided he had seen enough. The fight was never competitive, and the eye-popping statistical data it generated told the tale. Miocic outstruck “The Super Samoan” by a staggering 361-46 margin in total strikes -- the most lopsided strike differential in Ultimate Fighting Championship history, according to UFC President Dana White. The 361 strikes landed also set an all-time record for a single fight, surpassing the mark set by Chael Sonnen (320) in his submission loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 117 in August 2010. Per FightMetric, Miocic out-landed Hunt 125-6 in the third round, 62-7 in the fourth and 70-0 in the fifth.

3. Headlining Gig

Fabio Maldonado made the mistake of moving up in weight to meet Miocic as a short-notice replacement in “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3” Finale on May 31, 2014 at Geraldo Jose de Almeida Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was not a pleasant experience for the Brazilian boxer, as it resembled more of a public execution than a mixed martial arts bout. Miocic ducked the Sao Paulo native’s initial advances, slid to the center of the cage and buckled his knees with a short, quick left hand. He later mixed in a few inside leg kicks before sending a counter right cross crashing into Maldonado’s face. The impact put him on the canvas in the fetal position, and Miocic finished the job with a series of unanswered hammerfists that left referee Mario Yamasaki no choice but to rush in and halt the carnage. It took all of 35 seconds. Maldonado had been stopped by strikes only once previously, that result coming in a brutal, prolonged beatdown at the hands of Glover Teixeira. Miocic, in his first turn as a UFC headliner, was far more efficient with his handiwork.

4. Victory in Defeat

Not much separated dos Santos from Miocic after five rounds. Beaten to a bloody pulp, the tough-minded and durable Brazilian leaned exclusively on his boxing skills in capturing a unanimous decision from the Miocic in the UFC on Fox 13 headliner on Dec. 13, 2014 at the US Airways Center in Phoenix. All three judges sided with dos Santos: 48-47, 49-46 and 49-46. Miocic had never looked better and proved in defeat that he could compete with the best of the best in the heavyweight division. He cracked the favored dos Santos repeatedly with right hands, landed beautiful power punches while exiting clinches and mixed in a second-round takedown. Miocic had the Brazilian reeling more than once with high-velocity shots but could not find a way to put away the former champion. Dos Santos briefly floored him with a counter left hook in the third round, executed an exquisite trip takedown in the fourth and scored with a stinging jab throughout. He also invested heavily in body shots with left hooks and straight rights -- a strategy that seemed to take the spring out of Miocic’s step late in the fight. Both men had their moments in the fifth round despite being bloodied and exhausted, closing out a memorable 25-minute confrontation that saw them land 155 significant head strikes against each other.

5. Country Clubbing

Miocic locked down what was at the time his most significant victory as a professional in the UFC 161 co-main event on June 15, 2013 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. There, he ripped into “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 10 winner Roy Nelson with straight punching combinations and notched a well-earned unanimous decision, rebounding from his first career setback -- a technical knockout loss to Stefan Struve a little less than nine months earlier. Miocic swept the scorecards from “Big Country,” drawing 30-27 scores from all three judges. Nelson entered the cage on the heels of three consecutive first-round knockouts but stumbled out of the gate and never recovered. Miocic lit into him with two-, three- and four-punch volleys, wobbled him more than once with his right cross and snuck in leg kicks and knees for good measure. At the conclusion of the first five minutes, Nelson was a winded and spent force. Miocic followed his game plan to perfection, steering clear of the former International Fight League champion’s crushing overhand right. The combinations kept flowing and Nelson became less and less of a factor as the talented Ohioan dragged him into the deep. By the time their 15 minutes was up, Miocic had outpaced Nelson 129-25 in total strikes and a new heavyweight contender had been born.