Stipe Miocic has a lot to think about in the hours leading up to his massive fight against Francis Ngannou tomorrow night, but his doubters aren’t among his list of thoughts.
Stipe Miocic is used to winning; yet paradoxically, he’s also become used to being the underdog. As it happens, Miocic has become most accustomed to winning as the underdog.
Stipe Miocic is undefeated in title fights that he has entered as the underdog. He defeated Francis Werdum as a +135 underdog at UFC 198 to capture the heavyweight championship. He was the underdog in his two victories over Daniel Cormier at UFC 241 and UFC 252 that saw the champion put a close to the trilogy. He was also the underdog against Francis Ngannou when they fought at UFC 220 three years ago. Miocic would go on to cruise to a shutout unanimous-decision over Ngannou to retain the title.
The moral of the story is: Stipe Miocic is unaffected by the odds, and he made this point abundantly clear at the UFC 260 pre-fight press conference on Thursday:
“I’m used to it at this point, honestly,” Miocic said. “Vegas hates me. It’s all good. I’m not worried about it. Those are just odds, and odds mean shit to me.”
As of this writing, Miocic is listed as a very slight underdog at +105, with Ngannou favored at -125. This means you have to bet $125 on Ngannou to win $100 with a Ngannou victory. Meanwhile, if you bet $100 on Miocic, you win $105. These are narrow odds, but it follows a trend of Miocic being an underdog prior to a career-defining fight. The question is now whether the larger trend of Miocic bucking those odds will continue tomorrow night.
Do you think Stipe Miocic will defy the odds again with a victory over Francis Ngannou in the UFC 260 main event?
