We reported the news that Cain Velasquez was forced to withdraw from his return bout with UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum earlier today and it didn’t take long for a Stipe Miocic statement to appear on UFC.com. Miocic will be replacing Cain with just two weeks notice and he doesn’t seem phased one bit.
Dana called me and said ‘hey, Cain (Velasquez) is out; do you want to step in? Have you been training?’ I said ‘yeah’ and that I’d call him right back. I called my coach (Marcus Marinelli), he said ‘let’s do it,’ and I called back and said ‘I’m in.’ I feel good, I’m ready to do this. [Werdum is] a tough guy. He’s the champ, he’s beaten all the best guys in the world, and he’s good on the ground and gets better every fight. But he hasn’t seen anything like me yet. I’m super excited that I get my chance and I’ll show everyone that I deserve that chance when I bring that belt back home to Cleveland.
Miocic just sauced Andrei Arlovski at UFC 195 in devestating fashion and before that he stamped out Mark Hunt. He is 14-2 and this fight is definitely the biggest in his MMA career so far. This is an opportunity that not many fighters are able to attain. Stipe also has a free pass in the future from Dana for a rematch most certainly. White has been known to reward fighters for stepping up when they need them the most.
What do you think? Can Miocic dethrone Werdum?