Rarely do fighters get high-level send-offs. There's almost never a news conference in which they're well-dressed, composed and prepared to announce the end of their careers.
Almost always, the end comes suddenly, viciously and violently, as it did for Stipe Miocic on Saturday at Madison Square Garden when he was knocked out by Jon Jones in the third round of their heavyweight title fight at UFC 309. The send-off was almost an afterthought, as in-Octagon interviewer Joe Rogan made his way over to Miocic after Miocic had just absorbed the beating of his life.
Rogan asked the 42-year-old Miocic, who prior to Saturday hadn't fought in 44 months, if he'd fight again. Miocic's answer of no was almost comical.
“I’m done," he said. "I’m hanging ‘em up. I’m retiring. Thank God.”
And with that, the man widely acknowledged as the greatest heavyweight in UFC history was committed to the history books, retired with a 20-5 overall record, a 14-5 mark with nine KOs in the UFC and a 5-4 record in UFC heavyweight title fights.
He scored two wins over Daniel Cormier as well as single wins over Francis Ngannou, Junior dos Santos, Fabricio Werdum and Andrei Arlovski, all men who at one point in their careers were also UFC heavyweight champions.
Miocic never cared for the spotlight and if he could have made the same money for fighting guys out in the back with no interviews, no TV cameras and no crowds watching, you get the sense he would have done it. The vast majority of UFC fighters are full-time fighters now, but Miocic to this day works full-time as a firefighter.
One wonders how much better he might have been, because he was a brilliant athlete, had he put his firefighting career on hold and focused on fighting.
He has nothing to be ashamed about for what he was able to accomplish, though, and he made enough money in the UFC that he's largely set for life.
“He’s had an incredible career, and this doesn’t diminish who he was at heavyweight and what he’s accomplished here," UFC president Dana White said of Miocic at the UFC 309 post-fight news conference.
He was a class act who came in shape all the time, fought to the best of his ability and delivered a number of highly entertaining fights. He wasn't destined to be a superstar and he had neither the temperament nor the desire to ever be the face of the sport or the division.
That, though, doesn't lessen his accomplishments. It's not so hard to say goodbye because he wasn't around all that often. He fought once in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2024 and not at all in 2022 or 2023. He wasn't around enough, particularly near the end, for the fans to development that emotional bond with him.
He showed up, fought who he was scheduled to fight and then went home and slipped back into the Everyman role as a full-time worker that he most enjoyed.
He will, though, be missed.
Thank you, champion @stipemiocic , for all you’ve done for our sport and, above all, for the class you embody and the example you set. I’m grateful for how our battles have shaped me into a better fighter; those moments taught me more than years in the sport.
— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) November 17, 2024
Enjoy your… pic.twitter.com/QAzR4uX94Y
What does UFC do with Chandler now?
The UFC has a little bit of a problem with Michael Chandler now. The former Bellator lightweight champion is unquestionably one of the sport's most exciting fighters. In six bouts in the UFC, he's won three Fight of the Night bonuses and two Performance of the Night checks.
But after his unanimous decision loss to Charles Oliveira Saturday at UFC 309, in which Chandler dropped each of the first four rounds, he's now 2-4 in the UFC and hasn't really been close in any of the losses. He was knocked out by Oliveira at UFC 262. He dropped a decision to Justin Gaethje at UFC 268 and was submitted by Dustin Poirier at UFC 281 before losing last night's wide decision in the rematch with Oliveira.
Now, don't get me wrong; he's not going anywhere. This is a guy who people love to see despite his 2-4 won loss record in the UFC.
"Were you not entertained?" Chandler shouted to the crowd in a rare in-cage interview for a loser in a UFC bout. Of course, the crowd roared in response.
Matching him, though, is going to be difficult. Chandler's catch phrase is "See you at the top," but it's not fair to the rest of the division to keep throwing him in with the top five or so guys in his class. Winning and losing matters in professional sports and even though Chandler has been consisistently entertaining, he's more often than not coming up short. One of the sport's true good guys, Chandler has had his fair shot at the elite of the elite. Others deserve their cracks now.
So where does the UFC go with Chandler, who would be perfect for the UFC in that last fight on the preliminary card before it gets to pay-per-view? He's always going to bring it and who knows how much a great fight in the final prelim encourages someone on the fence to buy the PPV? It can't hurt.
Maybe a good fight for Chandler next would be against Rafael Fiziev, who is in the final stages of rehabilitating a knee injury or against Benoit Saint Denis. Both are aggressive, action-packed fighters and should mesh well with Chandler.
Brad Penner/Imagn Images
Michael Chandler (R), shown Saturday in a loss to Charles Oliveira at UFC 309, has now lost four of his six UFC bouts.
UFC must get a Jones-Aspinall fight done
The one thing White prides himself most in is making fights the fans want to see. More often than not during his career, he's done that and there are few fights like Brock Lesnar versus Fedor Emelianenko that didn't get put together.
White insisted that he's not going to put a Jones-Alex Pereira fight together at least and until Jones has fought interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
Jones said that fight would require "f*ck you money," but the fight will be so big, money shouldn't be a factor.
If Jones doesn't fight Aspinall, that would be a huge blot on his record. Aspinall is a legitimate contender, and even if we toss aside the interim belt as irrelevant, it's clear Aspinall is the deserved and obvious No. 1 contender.
Jones complained before the fight about Aspinall being seven years younger and 30 pounds bigger. Well, when Jones won the light heavyweight title from Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in 2011, Rua was more than six years older than Jones. And when you figiht at heavyweight, unless you choose to come in at or near the limit, you're going to fight guys bigger.
That's the nature of being the heavyweight champion.
Frankly, Jones' reasons for not wanting to fight Aspinall are bullshit.
That said, I think he's negotiating more publicly than anything else and expect to see Jones-Aspinall happen sometime in 2025.