Kicking off the list at No. 9 is Miocic’s 35-second execution of short-notice replacement Fabio Maldonado.

In Maldonado’s defense, he accepted the fight at short notice as Junior Dos Santos was forced to withdraw due to a hand injury suffered in training.

Although Maldonado would eventually beat Fedor Emelianenko late in his career, his shots were far too predictable that night, as Miocic was able to make a quick read and get the better of his Brazilian counterpart.

Luckily for Miocic, this wouldn’t be the last time he silenced a Brazilian crowd.

Coming in at number eight is another quick demolition of Miocic’s catalog that happened in less than a minute.

This was Miocic’s second appearance under the UFC banner, but the first official stoppage he got inside the octagon.

De Fries may not be one of the first names you’d cite on Miocic’s CV to assess quality, but the English heavyweight has enjoyed a very successful career outside of the UFC as a champion in heavyweight title for KSW.

Sliding in at No. 7 is a fight that arguably could be ranked higher if not for an incredibly late stoppage that spoiled what should have been a big win for Miocic.

Hunt may have been on a downward slide at this point in his career, but even the post-prime version of “Super Samoan” had proven to be a dangerous client to deal with.

Miocic smartly channeled his inner Cain Velasquez and shot Hunt early and often.

Unfortunately for Hunt, his corner and referee John Sharp did him no favors by allowing Miocic to pummel him until the fifth and final round of a fight that should have been stopped three times in the third frame.

The snatching of sixth place was due to Miocic’s quick stoppage of former UFC champion Andrei Arlovksi.

Although Arlovski was another post-prime MMA legend, “The Pitbull” was in the midst of a late-career renaissance, winning 6 fights in a row to get him back into title contention.

Unfortunately for Arlovski, Miocic’s speed and power were a little too much for him to keep pace from the start.

Miocic, who felt like he was being overlooked for a title shot, gave a memorable and fierce shout after the fight to UFC President Dana White, asking, “Where’s my chance?!”

Narrowly making the top 5 is one of Miocic’s most underrated and entertaining affairs against the late, great Shane del Rosario.

Del Rosario, who was a highly touted prospect coming out of the American Kickboxing Academy at the time, was the first fighter to exploit some of Miocic’s problems against southpaws.

With southpaws being even rarer at heavier weights, del Rosario was able to take an early leap on Miocic and light him up to the body with a few brutal kicks from the southpaw.

This, however, forced Miocic to dig deeper into his toolbox and show off some of his underrated grappling skills en route to getting one of the most brutal ground and pound stops via the elbows you’ll see in the octagon.

Taking fourth place is the first rematch of Miocic’s career against Junior Dos Santos.

Their first encounter was an instant heavyweight classic that saw Miocic fail on the scorecards. But their second meeting will not come out of the first round.

After suffering serious calf injuries from Dos Santos early on, Miocic was forced to hit the gas as he smartly cut across the cage while pressuring the former champion in exchanges that favored the American.

While part of me wishes Miocic would have come out with more of that kind of initiative and pressure, the Strong Style fighter apparently had a penchant for being forced into comebacks for a decent portion of his championship run.

Keeping with the theme of revenge and comebacks, I felt Miocic’s rematch with Daniel Cormier at UFC 241 was appropriate for the top 3.

In what was by far the best fight of their three-fight series, Miocic, once again, found himself behind the 8-ball early due to Cromier’s high-output offense.

That said, once Cormier started to slow down and quietly rack up more damage on his side, Miocic was finally able to catch up to the then-champion and exploit his soft body.

In fact, any time someone lands a crippling body blow in a UFC fight where Cormier is on the show, you’ll rarely hear anyone react more viscerally than “DC,” which as you can feeling it, relives a kind of PTSD from his fights with Miocic. and Anderson Silva.

While one could argue that the celebratory Irish jig that Miocic hit after beating Daniel Cormier is enough to move into second place, I couldn’t help but pick out the American’s surprise in enemy territory against the champion of the time, Fabricio Werdum. .

For those with a selective memory, Werdum, at this particular point in his career, was just coming off a massive victory over highly touted reigning champion Cain Velasquez (and had a stronger argument in the heavyweight GOAT discussions heavyweights that deserve to have taken into account his head-to-head victories against greats like Fedor Emelianenko and Velasquez).

And if Werdum had beaten Miocic north of a 2-1 favorite at UFC 198, then the Brazilian’s place in the history books would have been undeniable.

Unfortunately for Werdum, Miocic had other plans.

After feeling the need to get back at Miocic for an early success, Werdum recklessly rushed the American and ran into one of Miocic’s classic right counters in the first round.

To this day, I have never heard an arena this big and quiet after a knockout.

All you could hear was Miocic celebrating with his corner, shouting, “I AM THE WORLD CHAMPION!” I AM THE WORLD CHAMPION! »

First up is Miocic’s unforgettable return to Ohio at UFC 203 against Alistair Overeem.

Another heavyweight legend in the midst of a late-career renaissance, Overeem was on an impressive four-fight winning streak and operating in peak form.

I remember picking Overeem to win because of Miocic’s previous struggles with fighters who could strike southpaws and his propensity to give his neck during single-leg snatch entries.

Even though Overeem, who excited the crowd with his Pride FC-themed walkout, came out and almost won the title thanks to all the tools I mentioned previously, Miocic – as he proved throughout of his title run – was able to survive the first. storm and organizes a spectacular comeback.

Unlike the previous entry, this was one of the loudest crowd reactions to a knockout that I can remember. And although Miocic is a man of few words, he, once again, delivered a memorable post-fight speech to his Ohio faithful by shouting the classic “OH!” “.