UFC 146 Results: Can Stipe Miocic Become a Legit Heavyweight Contender?

Don’t let the shorts fool you, Stipe Miocic isn’t trying to be Mirko Cro Cop.

The 29-year-old heavyweight prospect seems to be having too much fun knocking guys out with his hands and tossing them around like rag dolls, so I wouldn’t bank on a high-kick finish any time soon.

Miocic has been slowly gaining recognition as a fighter to watch in the UFC for almost a year now, but last night was his coming-out party. He passed the toughest test of his career, in the form of fellow undefeated heavyweight prospect Shane Del Rosario, with relative ease.

Sure, Miocic ate a few kicks to the body in the first round and wasn’t completely without flaws, but he showed the ability to hang on the feet with one of the most talented strikers in the heavyweight division. Once he took the fight to the mat, he had a clear advantage.

After getting Del Rosario to the mat in the closing seconds of round one, Miocic saw where his advantage was and made sure he used it in the second round, forcing Del Rosario to fight off of his back and beating him up with some extremely brutal ground-and-pound.

Eventually, Miocic started landing some of the most brutal elbows we’ve ever seen and the referee was forced to stop the bout in the second round.

While it will likely be a while before we see Miocic in title contention, it’s just a matter of time. His wrestling is extremely good, he has knockout power in his hands and his striking is improving by leaps and bounds each fight.

Simply put, Miocic is a scary fighter in the heavyweight division.

Prior to beating Del Rosario, Miocic was already riding a two-fight UFC win-streak with wins over Joey Beltran and Philip De Fries, and now it’s time to see what he can do against some of the upper-tier fighters in the division.

If Miocic can perform this well against guys like Pat Barry, Matt Mitrione or Brendan Schaub, he could easily find himself knocking on the door of the top 10 in the division by the year's end, and if he can win a fight against one of the resident gatekeepers in the division, he will be in title contention before anyone knows what hit them.

Consider last night’s victory your first notice, Stipe Miocic could be the next big thing in the heavyweight division.