Morning Report: Alistair Overeem ‘flabbergasted’ Stipe Miocic KO’d Fabricio Werdum so ‘easily’

Fabricio Werdum wasn’t the only one caught off guard by Stipe Miocic’s right hook.

This past weekend, Miocic surprised quite a few doubters by going into Brazil and knocking out the defending champion Werdum in his own backyard. Heading into the fight some were beginning to argue for Werdum as the greatest heavyweight in MMA history and most expected that were Miocic to win it would have to be by decision. Needless to say that notion was very wrong. Miocic knocked Werdum out cold with a short right hook while backing up, shocking the MMA world including his potential future foe, Alistair Overeem. In an interview on SiriusXM Rush’s Toe-2-Toe with Brian Stann, Overeem discussed his surprise at the outcome of the fight.

“When I saw the fight I was actually flabbergasted how easily [Miocic] won. I would never have expected him to knock Fabricio out in the two-minute mark, two and a half minutes. Fairly easy. Not that many significant strikes landed before. Basically it was a right hook and then another right and that was the end of that.

“I definitely would have given Fabricio Werdum the home-field advantage. I mean, this was a soccer stadium filled with 45,000 Brazilians, it’s hostile territory for any outsider to fight there. That definitely does give the home fighter an advantage I think but Stipe just went in there and blasted his way to victory in two and a half minutes so congratulations to Stipe. An unexpected win in my book.”

Overeem is coming off his own impressive victory, knocking out the sixth-ranked Andrei Arlovski with a leaping front kick and follow up punches in the second round of UFC Fight Night 87 less than two weeks ago. The win marked Overeem’s fourth in a row (the longest active win streak in the UFC heavyweight division) and though no official offer has been extended, Overeem believes he is next in line for a title shot.

“I think I’m gonna be next for the championship. I just assume that. You know four wins in a row. Nobody else has better numbers than that. Okay you have Cain Velasquez but he’s coming off of a loss. He’s ranked No. 2. I don’t really get that. He’s coming off of a loss and then the other thing is his last win dates from 2013. That’s three years ago. It’s 2016 now. His last win is 2013. So I don’t understand why he’s ranked No. 2. But I’m not a numbers guy.

“I just focus on what I need to do and that is train, be healthy, get better, win my fights. I’ve always had the belief that when you’re just doing that it will all turn out fine and the belt will come automatically. So I have no intentions of stopping what I’m doing and I do expect that the championship fight is next. The championship win by the way.”

Velasquez and Travis Browne, the No. 2 and No. 7 heavyweights respectively, are scheduled to fight at UFC 200 on July with the winner being the only other heavyweight with a reasonable claim to a title shot. The fight is Velasquez’s first since losing the heavyweight championship to Fabricio Werdum in June of last year and, as Overeem notes should Velasquez win it, it would be his first win since October of 2013 when he mauled Junior dos Santos in their rubber match. For reference, Overeem’s entire four-fight win streak has come during that time.

Conversely, should Browne win he would only be riding a two fight win streak (his other win being a controversial stoppage of Matt Mitrione involving eye pokes) but he does hold a knock out win over Overeem, funnily enough also via front kick and follow up punches. Still, when comparing recent resumes Overeem seems to have the inside track on a title shot, having decisively beaten four currently …

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