Stipe Miocic (photo via UFC)

By FCF Staff

Stipe Miocic came up just short in his first bout with Junior dos Santos, but recently Kenny Florian and Daniel Cormier outlined how the heavyweight champ can avenge that defeat.

Miocic and dos Santos will battle in the main event of UFC 211 tonight, which will take place in Dallas, Texas. When the fighters met in 2014, JDS won via a tightly contested, unanimous decision.

On the latest “UFC Tonight”, Florian and Cormier discussed what Miocic needs to do, in order to continue his reign as champ (quote via FOX Sports 1 press release):

“For Stipe, I see two things. First is his kicking game. Junior ducks down to throw to the body,” said Florian. “Stipe needs to throw that lead kick to the head to counter it. And he has to throw the combos off the break, when he’s in tight.”

“He was a little overzealous in the first fight with Junior,” noted Cormier. “He kind of wore himself out. You’re the man now, Stipe. There’s no reason to feel overwhelmed. That was his first big fight. He fought well. Now he needs to slow it down. He knows he’s the champ now and should take his time. He’s got to move forward, but be smart and not be overaggressive. He needs to get inside and throw combinations from the clinch. And he should find a takedown to mix up the timing of Dos Santos.”

Miocic is coming off a stoppage win over Alistair Overeem in September, while dos Santos  hasn’t fought since April, 2016, when he scored a UD win over Ben Rothwell.