UFC President Dana White has refused to confirm whether Stipe Miocic‘s next UFC fight will be for the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
Miocic was last in action at UFC 260 in March. In his attempt to defend the heavyweight belt for the fifth time in his career and the second consecutive time after taking back the title from Daniel Cormier in 2019, the Ohio native ran into a heavyweight powerhouse who’s been smelling blood since 2018.
Having defeated Francis Ngannou at UFC 220, Miocic had hoped for a similarly dominant affair when the pair ran it back this year. Instead, “The Predator,” who rode a destructive winning streak that comprised of four first-round knockouts into the clash, secured his championship crowning with a brutal second-round KO.
Given that Daniel Cormier had been granted an immediate trilogy fight against Miocic following their rematch, the 38-year-old has revealed his dismay at the fact he hasn’t been provided with the same treatment as the former two-division champion. He even went as far as hinting at a move to another MMA promotion in recent weeks.
Responding to a user in the comment section of a ONE Championship Instagram post, the former champ said: “I shouldn’t have to wait for a winner, I have the most heavyweight title defenses of all time… we’re 1:1 but DC got instant rematches and trilogies against me?”
But despite letting his displeasure known, his concerns seem to have largely fallen on deaf ears. Speaking during the post-fight press conference at UFC 265, which saw Ciryl Gane further derail Miocic’s plans by booking a unification bout with Ngannou, Dana White certainly didn’t provide the answer that the 18-fight UFC veteran wanted to hear when he was asked if Miocic’s next fight will be for gold.
“I don’t know. The beautiful thing about this division right now is we have this fight tonight, now, Francis vs. Ciryl, and you got Jon Jones out there in 2022, and you got Stipe out there still, too. So it means there’s a lot of fun coming up over the next year, year and a half,” said White.
The UFC kingpin’s latest comments are unsurprising given his recent comments on a bout between Miocic and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones. Despite White claiming that the heavyweight legend has accepted the bout, Jones has previously said he has no interest in debuting in the division against Miocic, and recently took to Twitter to remind the MMA community of his goal.
In terms of an exciting heavyweight title picture, Dana White is certainly correct. With the continuation of Gane’s dominance against Derrick Lewis this past weekend, the Frenchman joined the likes of Ngannou, Jones, and Miocic in a stacked foursome of heavyweight behemoths at the top of the hill.
With contenders like Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Curtis Blaydes, as well as rising prospects like Tom Aspinall, the weight class looks to be the strongest it’s been in a while.
Who do you think Miocic should fight next? Should he face the winner of Ngannou vs. Gane? Or should he welcome Jones to the division?