Miocic Responds to Overeem’s Tap Claim: The Submission Attempt “Was Terrible”

In the main event of UFC 203, UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic clobbered challenger Alistair Overeem for a first-round knockout win – but not before surviving an early knockdown and guillotine choke attempt.

In the moments after Miocic’s victory, the vanquished Overeem – surely still dazed from his knockout loss – told UFC color commentator Joe Rogan that he had felt Miocic tap during the aforementioned guillotine attempt.

“He’s a great athlete, he’s tough, he always comes to fight, but there’s one thing I can say about the fight,” Overeem said. “I believe when I punched him, and he went down, I followed him, I got him in a guillotine choke, and I clearly felt a tap. The ref didn’t see it, the ref didn’t jump in, so the fight continued, but in my opinion, he tapped, and it’s a bummer.”

Unsurprisingly, these claims did not go over well with the victorious Miocic.

“I don’t know how I tapped out, I had two hands on his hands,” Miocic told the media at the UFC 203 post-fight press conference (via Fox Sports). “He’s obviously not feeling too good right now. Honestly [the guillotine attempt] sucked, it was terrible.” 

“He got me in that front headlock, I felt fine. I just kept scooting to my right, he didn’t like it and he gave me the opportunity when he fell on the ground and when I got on top of him, [it was] game over.”

“I didn’t [tap out]. I remember I was in the back signing my check and all that stuff and I heard the boos  [from the crowd] and I asked what they were booing about cause I knew that he was talking and they told me that he said that I tapped out.” 

Miocic finally shut Overeem’s claim down for good, hammering the gavel with this line:

“I don’t remember tapping out. I just remember punching him in the face repeatedly until he was unconscious.”

Do you think Miocic tapped to Overeem’s choke attempt, or did Overeem imagine it? Sound off, PENN nation!