“I’ll fight anyone”- The UFC heavyweight champions calls out the entire division

Not only did Stipe Miocic defend his heavyweight title Saturday night but he also claimed the title of the best heavyweight of all time.

Stipe isn’t going to change his approach as champion. He plans on staying champion for a long time.

Miocic is proud of the heavyweight GOAT label but he credits the win to his team and support system.

“Listen, I’ve done a lot. It wasn’t just me, though,” Miocic told reporters, including MMA Junkie, post-fight at UFC 252. “It was my coaches, my wife, my amazing family, my friends. They always supported me and backed me up no matter what. I miss a lot of fun stuff, especially family stuff. It kills me inside missing a lot of stuff like that. It kills me.

“The graduation parties, the baptisms. I couldn’t go. It would kill me, but the best part is no one ever judged me. They always supported me and understood what I’m doing.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

If it wasn’t for the people around me that I surrounded myself with and my amazing family and my friends and my coaches and my teammates, I wouldn’t be here.”

Miocic lost his title to Daniel Cormier in their first fight in 2018. During their second meeting, Miocic scored a comeback knockout to regain the heavyweight title.

Miocic started off strong and maintained a pace throughout the whole fight on Saturday, and said a strong start was the key to his success.

“(The key to success was) not start like an idiot,” Miocic said. “I actually started pretty good at the beginning of the fight. He took me down, but I got back up, and I was happy about it.

He caught me off guard with a good front headlock. I wasn’t worried about it. He did good. He’s a good fighter and made me second-guess myself, so I had to make him self-guess himself.”

“I’ll fight anyone,” Miocic said. “I don’t care. I love what I do.”