by CLEVELAND, OH – UFC 203 was Live from Cleveland tonight as Stipe Miocic made a glorious homecoming with a dominant title defense over former UFC Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem. Miocic overcame a near submission early one to battle back and knockout Overeem in convincing fashion in just 4:27 of the very first round. The crowd came unglued at the finish and the noise level matched the Cleveland Cavaliers run to the NBA Championship earlier this summer. Stipe will more then likely defend next against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos in May at UFC 211.
Stipe may have won in front of his hometown fans but the same could not been said for Jessica Eye who lost on the undercard to Bethe Correia on a razor thin split decision. Eye only took one of the 3 judge’s cards and lost her fourth straight fight by decision.
Speaking of the undercard it did start off red hot with convincing finishes in the first three fights with Yancy Medeiros submitting Sean Spencer while Drew Dober earned a TKO over Jason Gonzalez. Also winning by knockout on the undercard was Nik Lentz over Michael McBride.
The main card witnessed the dubious debut of CM Punk who looked horrendous as it only took journeyman Micky Gall 2:14 to ground and pound Punk until eventually submitted him with a rear naked choke as Punk was awful.
UFC Legend Uriah Faber took one step closer to retirement with a decision loss to Jimmie Rivera as Faber didn’t win a single round. Jessica Andrade continued to show why she will be a future champion with a commanding victory over Joanne Calderwood in a first round finish via guillotine choke.
Finally, on the semi man, it was Fabricio Werdum defeated Travis Browne in a dominant decision victory. For Werdum, he is on the path to a title rematch with Miocic down the road.
