‘Different breed’: How $300 Aussie eBay piece created UFC 309 blockbuster

It’s the Australian eBay picture which, costing around $300, went and changed everything for Stipe Miocic.

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That, and now has him in line to score one of the great upsets against UFC heavyweight king Jon Jones.

On the eve of this Sunday’s blockbuster UFC 309 headliner, Miocic has credited his 2015 demolition of Australia’s Mark Hunt for effectively beginning his transformation into a fighter now boasting a host of UFC heavyweight records, including most title wins and defences.

It has now been almost 10 years since the Cleveland firefighter arrived Down Under to challenge Hunt.

At the time, Miocic was not only coming off a loss against Junior dos Santos, but questioning if he really belonged among the UFC heavyweight division’s most elite fighters.

Yet by the end of that week, the now 42-year-old earned himself such a convincing stoppage win over the Sydney cult favourite, it including setting a new UFC record for most punches thrown in a fight.

According to UFC statistics, Miocic threw 361 punches before the Adelaide Entertainment Centre headliner was eventually stopped in the fifth round — with Hunt, in reply, landing just 46.

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Days later, the legendary Australian KO King posted what appeared to be a picture of his battered face, immediately after the fight, and likely while at the hospital, to social media.

Incredibly, copy of said picture still shows up as being available on ebay — and signed by both fighters — for US$200.

Exactly how genuine the piece is, who knows?

However, what we can say is that within two fights of said win Down Under, Miocic would take the UFC heavyweight title from Fabricio Werdum, and then make hyped defences against Alistair Overeem, Dos Santos and Francis Ngannou.

While he would then lose a 2018 blockbuster against Daniel Cormier, in which he was stopped in the first round, Miocic would return to beat DC twice – and confirm himself the company’s greatest ever heavyweight.

Speaking in New York this week, Miocic labelled the Hunt fight as something of a turning point for his career, revealing that it proved “I do belong” among the elite UFC heavyweights.

“One hundred per cent that fight gave me the confidence I needed,” Miocic said of his Adelaide showdown.

“Made me realise I do belong.

“That was also an interesting fight because we fought at 1pm.

“So I got back to the hotel at 3.30 and thought ‘what do I do for the rest of the day’.

“It was weird.

“Thankfully I had a lot of family there and we got together, had fun.”

And as for setting the record, albeit briefly, for most strikes in UFC history?

“I had no idea until somebody told me,” he recalls with a laugh.

“But I remember they were like ‘nobody is going to break this’.

“And then, a week later, Max Holloway broke it …”

Despite his storeyed career as a UFC heavyweight champion, Miocic now comes into this fight as a large underdog due to his age and having had three long years out of the Octagon.

Yet Jones, too, has been out for almost two years and boasts only the one fight at heavyweight, an easy title win over Ciryl Gane, after spending years dominating the division below.

As how Jones, the heavyweight, differed from the man widely regarded as the greatest ever a division lighter, Miocic replied: “That’s a good question.

“Bigger of course, doesn’t have to cut weight.

“We get the same Jon Jones, just bigger.”

So as for the biggest challenge he faces moving up?

“In this division, everyone has power,” Miocic continued.

“They’re big and strong and can move just like he can.

“The heavyweight division, it’s different.

“Guys move up, (they notice) it’s different.

“We’re a different breed.”

Elsewhere, Jones stressed he did not expect Jones to fight differently from how he has at light heavyweight – “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” – and admitted his rival brings “a lot of challenges”.

“He brings a different array of things with kicks, movements, stuff like that,” the challenger said. “He’s very tricky.

“Very smart, calculated.

“And I’ve always wanted to fight him.

“when Jon came to heavyweight it was ‘man, that’s a fight I really want’.

“It’s the best of the best and what people want to see.”