UFC 241 aftermath: Stipe Miocic's best 5 UFC knockouts

#2 vs. Fabricio Werdum – UFC 198

Miocic first won the UFC Heavyweight title with a vicious KO of Fabricio Werdum

Miocic was finally granted his first title shot in May 2016, although the circumstances were somewhat strange; he stepped in as a replacement for the injured Cain Velasquez against Heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum at UFC 196, but when that show was cancelled due to Werdum withdrawing, the UFC simply kept the pairing together and rescheduled for UFC 198.

Stipe was coming in as an underdog – how could he not, given Werdum had beaten the hell out of Velasquez when they’d fought and also had wins over the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira? But even fighting in Werdum’s home country of Brazil couldn’t deter the challenger.

Werdum appeared to be a bit too anxious coming into the fight, winging wild combinations towards Miocic, who stayed calm under fire and was also able to stuff the Brazilian’s takedown attempts. The champion eventually walked into a hard right hand counter that clearly hurt him, and decided to return fire, charging in with another flurry.

This time Miocic was poised and ready – and he nailed the oncoming Werdum with a counter right that dropped him face-first. No follow-up shots were even needed as the Brazilian was unconscious – and Miocic had captured his ultimate goal. This was an all-time great knockout, reminiscent of the great Chuck Liddell’s finish of Randy Couture in 2005 – and set the tone for Miocic’s path to becoming one of the all-time greats himself.