Stipe Miocic is not bothered by fan criticism leading up to his return to the Octagon.
Miocic will return to action after a hiatus of over three years to challenge Jon Jones for the heavyweight title in the main event at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The matchup has been widely criticized, as Jones is adamant on fighting Miocic while interim champ Tom Aspinall sits on the sidelines. Although Miocic has cemented his legacy as arguably the greatest heavyweight in UFC history, many consider Aspinall the rightful title contender at the moment.
However, Miocic has simply shut out all the chatter from detractors going into UFC 309. The Ohio-based firefighter also admitted that he might have been affected by fans’ criticism at an earlier point in his career. Miocic more recently recalled the exact point in his career when he learned to be unbothered by outside noise. It was after a second-round technical knockout loss to Stefan Struve in 2012 that Miocic realized how inconsequential all the criticism from random strangers was.
UFC 309: Jones vs Miocic. Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!
“I think it was after I lost to Struve,” Miocic recently told Shakiel Mahjouri. “A few months after that, I just stopped caring. I just didn’t care anyone. It was like, ‘I don’t know these people. They don’t know me. Who cares?’ It’s just noise outside. Just carry on with your life, don’t worry about what everyone has got to bring to the table… Like F ’em.”
Miocic won the heavyweight title with a first-round stoppage win over Fabricio Werdum in 2016 and defended it three times, the most in UFC heavyweight history, before losing the belt to Daniel Cormier in 2018. Miocic went on to reclaim his title in the immediate rematch with “DC” and defended it again it their trilogy before losing it to Francis Ngannou via brutal KO in 2021.
Meanwhile, Jones returned to the Octagon after a three-year hiatus in 2023 and made easy work of Ciryl Gane with a first-round submission to win the heavyweight title in his divisional debut. The former light heavyweight champ was scheduled to defend his strap against Miocic at UFC 295 in November 2023 but was forced out with an injury.
