Stipe Miocic’s modest approach to next UFC title defence is a breath of fresh air

Stipe Miocic may be the baddest dude on the planet, but he's also one of the most likeable athletes in the world.

In the era where just about every UFC champion is trying to secure their very own Red Panty night, Stipe Miocic just wants to fight. Miocic claimed the UFC heavyweight belt by brutally knocking out legendary fighter Fabricio Werdum in the lion's den. For his first defence, Miocic dug deep and fought back from an early knockdown to shut Alistair Overeem's lights out in front of his home crowd in Cleveland at UFC 203. You'd think that after winning and subsequently defending the belt the hard way, Miocic would be on the hunt for that coveted money fight, but in a recent interview with Submission Radio he explained that is not the case.

"It honestly doesn't matter to me. Whoever they want me to fight, I will fight. I'm the champ, but I'm not going to pick and choose who I fight. Whoever they want me to fight, I'm going to fight, so I don't care." "I'm just a fighter, and I just tell them when I want to fight. That's all I'm worried about."

One superfight Stipe could legitimately be campaigning for is a match-up against arguably the greatest fighter to ever grace the Octagon, Jon Jones. The former light heavyweight champion announced on Twitter recently that a bout against Miocic would tickle his fancy, but the champ isn't going to go out of his way to make it happen.

"It means I'm doing something right. It's cool, man. It would be a great fight I think. It shows that I'm doing something right and that people want to fight me. It is what it is, man. I honestly don't care. Right now, I'm just living it up, and I'm not worried about fighting for a while." "All I care about is keeping this belt for a long time. Listen, I'm going to take one fight at a time. I know I can be one of those guys that keeps the belt for a very long time and I know I'm going to."

It looks like former champs Werdum and Cain Velasquez are the front-runners to get the next heavyweight title shot, with both of them coming off wins over Travis Browne. When asked which one of the two he'd prefer... well, you already know how Miocic responded.

"I'll fight whoever the UFC wants me to fight. If the UFC wants me to fight Werdum, I'll fight Werdum. If the UFC wants me to fight Cain, I'll fight Cain. Whoever they want me to fight, it will be for a reason, so I'll fight whoever they want me to fight."