Stipe Miocic Pursued a Trilogy
When former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic suffered a knockout defeat to Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 back in 2021. Stipe thought a trilogy fight was inevitable. This was because Stipe Miocic manhandled Ngannou in their first encounter three years earlier, it wasn’t a shocking request that would get the rubber match to settle the trilogy. Unfortunately, for Miocic, Francis Ngannou would end up facing Ciryl Gane instead nine months late, aggravated a knee injury in the process and then sat out to recover from surgery before entering free agency.
In the end, Francis Ngannou surrendered the UFC heavyweight title and opted to sign the PFL. Ngannou also went and crossed over to boxing for a pair of fights against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Speaking to MMA Fighting Stipe Miocic spoke about pursuing the trilogy fight against Ngannou when he said;
“I was trying. I was trying to get the rematch,”
“Then he left and it didn’t happen, unfortunately.
“Listen, I’m a fighter. I don’t work for the UFC internally and [figuring] out matchmaking. It’s what they wanted to do and it’s what they did.”
Francis Ngannou Move Into Boxing
While Miocic wanted the third fight against Ngannou, he can’t fault the former UFC heavyweight champion for opting to take a deal that would allow him to live out his dream in the boxing ring and get paid a whole lot of money to do it. Miocic spoke about that when he said;
“Yeah of course [I was bummed] because I wanted the rubber match,” Miocic said. “But also at the same point, he’s doing better for himself and his family. I’m not mad at him. He’s doing great.”
During Ngannou’s two fights in Boxing, Ngannou was able to take Tyson Fury to a razor-close decision loss after scoring a shocking knockdown over the former heavyweight champion. However, things didn’t go well against Anthony Joshua after Ngannou suffered a pair of knockdowns before being finished in the second round by a vicious punch.
Stipe Miocic, is a Golden Gloves boxer in his youth, admits he didn’t watch both of Ngannou’s fights, but he was still proud to see his former rival getting the chance to compete against two of the best heavyweights in the sport. Speaking about the boxing matches Stipe said;
“I saw clips of it,”
“The first one he did well with Fury and unfortunately the second one didn’t go well with Joshua. But it happens. It’s fighting, anything can happen.
“Some people said he won [against Fury]. I didn’t see the whole fight but a lot of people said he won the fight. He put him down. He did a lot of things. Listen, he convinced that many people that he could [beat him]. Shows that we can hang.”
Stipe Miocic Okay About Letting Trilogy Go
Francis Ngannou returned to the MMA octagon this past October when he made short work of Renan Ferreira in his PFL debut. As of now, he’s undecided on what comes next. With opportunities being available in both the boxing and MMA industries, Francis Ngannou can essentially go and pick or choose whatever he wants to do next, but it seems highly unlikely that a return to the UFC ever happen. This is due to Francis Ngannou still remains at odds with the UFC CEO Dana White and appears happy controlling his own destiny. This would mean there is little to no chance that Stipe Miocic will ever get to settle the score. As much as he once wanted the trilogy fight, he is resolved in knowing that his rivalry with Francis Ngannou has ended at one win apiece. Speaking about this Stipe said;
“Listen, I’m OK with letting go,”
“I get it. As much as I would love to fight him, I wish him nothing but the best and it is what it is. We’re 1-1. That’s the way it will be. He got the last one unfortunately.”
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
