Stipe Miocic defeats Alistair Overeem at UFC 203 to retain heavyweight title

Stipe Miocic knocked out Alistair Overeem in the first round to retain the heavyweight title at UFC 203 in front of his home crowd.

The UFC debuted in Cleveland with a local hero anchoring the card. In the main event of UFC 203, Cleveland native and heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic made his first title defense against MMA legend Alistair Overeem, succeeding with a knockout win.

Overeem is a decorated MMA and kickboxing veteran with a plethora of titles to his name, save for one, the UFC belt.

Miocic was the early aggressor Saturday night, chasing Overeem around the cage. Eventually Overeem caught Miocic and dropped him and went for a guillotine choke, but Mioci was able to escape and chased after Overeem as they returned to their feet before re-establishing themselves.

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Overeem landed another right hand and caught Miocic, but Miocic rallied and caught Overeem with a couple rights of his own that seemed to be doing significant damage. Miocic had Overeem backed against the cage and was able to tee off a bit, but Overeem weathered the storm.

With a minute left in the first round, Miocic dropped Overeem and was able to move into his guard and rain down shots. Eventually, Overeem faded from consciousness and the referee stopped the fight and Cleveland's native son won his first title defense in front of a raucous crowd with just 30 seconds left.