Stipe Miocic’s revenge tour should already be underway, but UFC has other dumb plans

Stipe Miocic is the most decorated Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion of all time, defending his world title a record three times before running into Light Heavyweight kingpin Daniel Cormier’s devastating overhand right at UFC 226 two months ago. Miocic, like most of the other athletes who lose in such a hard-hitting division, got caught ... plain and simple.

He admitted as much immediately after the loss at the post-fight press conference:

“It sucks, losing is not fun at all. But when I put it all in perspective, I am going home right now to my beautiful wife who is having my child. There are better things than losing. It sucks, you know. I want to come back and rematch, of course. But, right now it’s ‘DC’s’ day, good for him.... I lost, plain and simple there are no excuses. He is the better man tonight.”

Pure class from a classy champion, even though moments earlier he had to endure the “disrespectful shit show” that was Brock Lesnar storming into the cage to “shove” Cormier to promote a future big money match. One that Lesnar seemingly whipped up on a whim, while company President Dana White just grinned and giggled.

That’s some bullshit — just ask Mark Hunt. Or Joe Rogan. Hell, even Nick Diaz has an opinion. Not just because it involves Lesnar — who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) after his one-off bout with Hunt at UFC 200 — but mainly because Miocic deserves an immediate rematch perhaps more than any other dethroned champion. Sure, Miocic vs. Cormier 2 probably wouldn’t bank as much as a Lesnar-led pay-per-view (PPV), but it’s a bout that makes sense for his legacy in particular and mixed martial arts (MMA) in general.

Not to mention there are no United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) hoops to jump through ... or to skirt for that matter.

The good news is that this is all hoping to serve as motivation for Miocic’s eventual revenge tour, which he recently teased on social media:

The problem, at least for now, is that there are a dearth of worthy opponents. No. 2-ranked contender Derrick Lewis is scheduled to face Alexander Volkov (No. 5) at UFC 229 next month, while Curtis Blaydes (No. 3) is expected to rematch Francis Ngannou (No. 4) at UFC Fight Night 141 on Nov. 25, 2018. And Miocic has already starched both Alistair Overeem (No. 6) and Junior dos Santos (No. 7).

In other words, UFC’s most decorated Heavyweight champion ever has to wait on the sidelines while his contemporaries battle for position. Meanwhile, Cormier and Miocic are sitting around waiting for Lesnar to get his shit together, which probably won’t happen until early 2019 ... if at all. Oh, and UFC 230, which is still missing a marquee main event, is right around the corner.

What the fuck.