Stipe Miocic gives timeframe for next fight, discusses possible opponents

Stipe Miocic is starting to look like an unstoppable heavyweight champion. Since winning the belt with a first-round knockout of Fabricio Werdum, he’s now defended it with first-round knockouts of Alistair Overeem and Junior dos Santos.  And given that his latest win – the dos Santos KO – was in May, he’s now starting to get the itch to get back in there.

Speaking on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Miocic explained that he’d like to get back in there in December or January.

“We’re talking,” Miocic said (h/t MMAFighting.com). “I’m probably looking at December or the end of January.”

“I’ve got a great management team and they’re doing everything they’re supposed to,” he added. “We’re talking, it’s all good.”

Miocic then weighed the option as far as possible opponents go. In his mind, there are currently four heavyweights who really stand out: Francis Ngannou, Alistair Overeem, Alexander Volkov, and Cain Velasquez.

“There are a lot of guys that are there already,” he said. “In the heavyweight division anything can happen on any night, you know? That’s what’s scary about the division: no matter how good you are there is always somebody that can beat you.”

“I don’t know I’m not the UFC. If I was a matchmaker I wouldn’t be fighting, but [Ngannou] is a very tough guy,” he continued.

“He’s been running through people and he’s getting better in every fight. He’s definitely a great up and comer and he’s got a great future ahead of him.”

“Listen, whoever the UFC wants me to fight, I’ll fight – Overeem, or whoever’s next…Volkov…he’s a tough guy too, but I have a hard time saying his name for whatever reason. You know, or Cain, whoever they say I’m not going to back down.”

Velasquez, in particular, interests Velasquez, though he’s not likely to fight again this year.

“It would have been great to fight him because it would have been an amazing fight between us too,” he said of Velasquez.

“We’re both wrestlers, we both push the pace, we’ve got great cardio and we like to stand and bang – it would have been an exciting fight. Unfortunately, he’s hurt right now. I hope he gets better because he’s a super nice guy.”

Who do you want to see Stipe Miocic fight next?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 9/19/2017.