Overeem questions champ Miocic’s focus

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  • Head-to-head: Miocic and Overeem.

    Stipe Miocic has always relished entering the lion’s den. In Australia, he dismantled home favourite Mark Hunt amid the backdrop of a chorus of boos in Adelaide.

    Then in Brazil, in front of the largest stadium crowd for an MMA fight in the country, he silenced the deafening cries of 45,000 messianic home fans when he stripped the UFC heavyweight title from Fabricio Werdum with a stunning first-round stoppage in May.

    On Saturday, though, in the headline act of UFC 203 (UAE main card start time 06:00), Miocic will have an unfamiliar backdrop despite fighting in familiar territory.

    The Cleveland native brings the promotion to his city for the very first time as he makes his maiden defence of the heavyweight strap against Dutch legend Alistair Overeem – who himself earned a shot at the belt after stopping team-mate Andrei Arlovski in Rotterdam a week before Miocic’s title win.

    ‘The Reem’ is hunting the one major belt which eludes his extensive collection having enjoyed a prosperous career which has seen him capture Strikeforce, DREAM and K-1 titles.

    And the 36-year-old has questioned whether Miocic will be able to replicate his feat on home soil and handle the pressure of fighting in front of familiar faces.

    “Did I have an advantage in Holland? My last fight was in my country, in Rotterdam. It did give a little extra boost,” Overeem said at the pre-fight press conference.

    “I can’t deny that. It does give you a little bit more shivers. On the other hand there’s the extra appearances that you have to do. Everybody wants a piece of you. It’s kind of a little bit of a drag on you as well. It depends on how you handle it. I think with my 86 fights and 22 years of competing and training, I’ve been able to handle it very well.

    “I’ll be curious to see how Stipe handles it. He seems very professional, but we’ll see on Saturday.”

    Overeem also insisted that he is the hungrier man and pointed to the celebrations which ensued after Miocic brought champion- ship glory to a city starved of success as evidence of his adversary’s lack of appetite.

    He added: “It’s all about whether he can stay focused. If you’re doing the appearances and the pool parties – because yes, we have seen Stipe at several of them. Not one, but several.

    “He’s enjoying the life, and that’s not a bad thing. But know somebody’s coming and somebody’s going to take that belt, and he’s not going to enjoy life.”

    Of course, the champion is adamant he remains steadfast in his aim to hold gold.

    “Everywhere I go, every time I do an appearance I have a coach and a training partner with me,” he said. “Nothing changed with my training. I’m training harder than ever before. I’m just ready to go.”

    Elsewhere on the main card, Phil Brooks, better known by his pro-wrestling moniker ‘CM Punk’, will make his MMA debut when he takes on talented prospect Mickey Gall in a welterweight clash.

    Brooks, who signed for the UFC after leaving behind superstardom in the WWE in December 2014, has twice had his debut delayed by injury but is set to step foot in the Octagon despite no professional or amateur experience in MMA.

    Many have written off the 37-year-old’s chances of pulling off victory but he says experiencing life as a professional fighter is already a win for him.

    “I don’t think it was ever ques- tioned whether physically I could handle the training camp,” Brooks said. “I think mentally was the question, but now we all know.

    “If I set foot in the Octagon, I’ve already won. I’m doing some- thing that a lot of people thought I couldn’t do. At the end of the day, I don’t want to walk in there and lose. I want to beat Mickey. There’s so many variables, everything has to line up on that one perfect day and I’m looking to that on [Saturday].”

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