Before the legend: Stipe Miocic's journey through Polish chaos, hard lessons, and the moment he knew he belonged

Stipe Miocic is an all-business type of guy.

When we think of the UFC's most decorated heavyweight fighter to ever live, Miocic's long-running status as an active firefighter is often associated. And for good reason. The proud Ohioan has never been a full-time fighter, yet found success at the highest level imaginable.

Professional face-punching wasn't even Miocic's plan. MMA has stories aplenty about fighters casually joining a gym for general fitness and training, which eventually snowballs into an attempt at a career. That was the case when Miocic helped an old teammate in the mid-2000s. He figured he'd try some fights of his own and started a run through the amateur ranks. Before all the glamour that fighting the cream of the crop provides in the UFC, Miocic's wild early days were like everyone else's.

"Back then, a lot of guys trained in their garage and stuff like that," Miocic told Uncrowned ahead of his UFC 309 title challenge against heavyweight champion Jon Jones. "Now, everyone — even if they're not as good — they still technically know what's going on and know what they're doing. They have technique, and before we were just brawlers back then. We were just out there for a show.

"My team [had game plans] because I had a great gym, but some of these guys I fought [on the regional scene], you could tell they were just going to go out there swinging."

Unfortunately for the five men who challenged the future legend as an amateur, they swung and missed. Miocic spent a combined six minutes and 32 seconds in the cage before turning pro.

It was off to the races.

MMA is weird and the power of hindsight can enhance that to bizarre degrees. Just ask lifelong bantamweight Raphael Assuncao, who holds a win over two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Jorge Masvidal, or former UFC featherweight Ivan Menjivar about the night he fought welterweight GOAT Georges St-Pierre. In MMA's regional scene, parallel universes exist within cagefights.

Heavyweight has its door open wider than any other division to absurd sightings. On May 21, 2010, Miocic traveled to Worcester, Massachusetts, to take on Paul Barry. It was nothing more than your typical regional prospect matchup. However, the Moosin fight night event had a particularly wild main event.

"My second pro fight was when Mariusz Pudzianowski fought Tim Sylvia," Miocic said.

Yes, Worcester, Massachusetts. The perfect place for your random dark alley corner of MMA freakshow fantasies.

A Polish champion strongman who reinvented himself as an aspiring pugilist, Pudzianowski became arguably the greatest "freakshow fighter" of all time. And the spectacle of that show, which saw a past-his-prime former UFC heavyweight champion spoil the promoter's plans with an early knockout of Pudzianowski, opened Miocic's eyes to the world he was embarking upon.

"There was a lot going on," Miocic said. "That was a big show and Pudzianowski was fighting, there's a big Polish community in that area, so it was crazy. I was like, 'Holy crap, people are going nuts.'

"I thought massive fights were going to break out because he lost. They were just heartbroken, which I get, but it was mind-blowing."

In 2024, Pudzianowski is still active at 47 years old while Miocic readies to try and become a three-time UFC champion by defeating a fellow all-time great in Jones. Miocic and Pudzianowski somehow fought on the same night in the same place and theoretically could have fought each other instead.

Parallel universes.

Considering the dual-career nature of Miocic, it's made his 14-year journey as a professional all the more interesting, as he's stated countlessly how every fight since his UFC debut could be his last. He's never needed to fight to support his family. It just became something he's pretty damn good at and enjoys.

But there was one moment, in particular, that Miocic knew he could be the very best at it.

In 2014, on the fourth year of his UFC journey, Miocic headlined a forgotten classic opposite former champion Junior dos Santos at UFC on Fox 13. It was Miocic's first chance to break into the top ranks, and although he lost a decision, Miocic knew that night that he was the world's premier heavyweight.

"I lost," Miocic said, "[but] I knew I belonged and it was more of a confidence builder. Hanging in there with him was like, 'I know I can do this. No one's going to stop me. I'm going to do what I do.'

"He was a tough guy, but that fight I could have beat him. I lost, unfortunately, but the moment I came back [into the locker room], I was screaming at my coaches. My wife was there and I was like, 'We fight right now, I'll beat him again! Right now, I'll beat him! I'll beat him right now!' I was so mad, 'I'll fight him tomorrow.' That right there was the stepping stone. It definitely helped me out and turned a corner for me."

Miocic ultimately got his redemption. Three years later, this time as a reigning UFC heavyweight champion, Miocic made easy work of his rival with a first-round knockout at UFC 211.

But that original feeling Miocic felt after the first dos Santos fight proved accurate. A historic run immediately followed Miocic from that loss, and mother of God did it follow violently.

People can poke holes and dissect anyone's record in any sport; what can't be argued is performance. To rebound off UFC on Fox 13, Miocic flew all the way to Australia and handed Mark Hunt one of the most vicious beatings ever seen in the Octagon.

The win may be a forgotten relic nearly a decade later, but at the time, it was a true "holy s**t" moment. Across nearly 23 minutes, Miocic set the record for most total head strikes landed in a UFC fight at 330. In total, he outstruck Hunt 361 to 46 and took him down six times with nearly 17 minutes of control time.

The fight got uncomfortable to watch.

"It's weird too," Miocic said, "because the fight was at like 1 p.m. It was awkward getting done at 3 p.m. and [it's like], 'What do we do for the next eight to 10 hours?' We had fun, but it was just a great fight."

A year later, Miocic was champion. When he steps in the Octagon at UFC 309, he'll have fought in nine consecutive UFC title fights. He holds the records for most heavyweight title defenses both consecutively (3) and cumulatively (4). And there's been no shortage of highlights.

However, smack-dab in the middle of his legacy's creation is a win that can't be forgotten.

UFC 203 was the only time — and likely will remain the only time — Miocic fought at home in Cleveland in the promotion. Standing in his way was one of the sport's all-time most feared knockout artists, Alistair Overeem, who finally reached his first career UFC title shot in that 2016 showdown.

As a perpetual underdog, Miocic overcame the odds as he historically has. It was his first title defense and another in a string of first-round knockouts of heavyweight legends.

If there's one moment to encapsulate his story, for Miocic, it's that one, back in the place where it all began.

"Just walking out like that, I still get goosebumps thinking about them," he said. "When someone's chanting your name, thousands of people, it's surreal."

The fighting pride of Ohio superseded expectations on all fronts in MMA. Already one of the greatest, another upset over the arguable pinnacle of greatness in Jones would take Miocic to a new stratosphere.

But defying the odds has been the story of his career, after all.