Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier are very evenly matched, according to top offshore sportsbooks, for their Heavyweight Championship match at UFC 252 on August 15, 2020 at the UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. This will be the third installment in a trilogy between current two-time champion Miocic and former champion Cormier. The two first met at UFC 226 on July 7, 2018. On that occasion, Cormier returned to heavyweight and won the title by knocking Miocic out in the first round. Their second encounter took place at UFC 241 on August 17, 2019. Miocic regained the title by way of fourth-round technical knockout. This will be, as they say, the rubber match.
Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier UFC 252 Money Line
| Fighter | Odds |
|---|---|
| Stipe Miocic | -105 |
| Daniel Cormier | -115 |
Betting Stipe Miocic
Miocic won the previous fight by TKO in the fourth round after hitting several clean left hooks to the body. Which he followed up with punches to the head, reclaiming. He earned Performance of the Night honors with that win. This will be Miocic’s return to action. He sat out the rest of 2019 after suffering retinal damage as a result of multiple eyes pokes from Cormier. Some users of top offshore sportsbooks think Cormier poked Miocic’s eye on purpose.
But Cormier begs to differ. He thinks the change in the size of gloves in training and in actual fights led to the eye pokes.
“I’m not purposely doing that. I’m not purposely poking him in the eye. That first fight, I kind of poked him in the eye but the issue with that was sometimes when I spar and because I’m shorter, I have the 16-ounce gloves, I can kind of flick my hand towards guys and hit them when they’re a little bit out of range. I think that’s what happened the first time,” Cormier said. “The second time, once I think my knuckle got jammed into his eye but that’s not a finger. I kind of punched and the thumb was tucked into a fist but the knuckle got him in the eye.”
Betting Daniel Cormier
Cormier has said he plans to use his wrestling skills to the max. They will fight in a smaller cage. Cormier believes he will be more successful wrestling Miocic as opposed to trading blows with him. “That ole leg is gonna be right in front for me to grab,” said Cormier. “If you wanna see a 25-minute standup fight, that’s not what you’re getting.
I hope Stipe has his wrestling shoes because with the small cage — single leg, single leg, single leg.” Users of the best online sportsbooks should not think though that Miocic’s wrestling abilities aren’t up to snuff. As a senior at Eastlake North in 2001, he was the Division I state runner-up at 215 pounds. He then spent time at Cleveland State as a wrestler.
In the first two fights, there wasn’t a lot wrestling or ground work by either fighter. In July 2018, Miocic got a quick takedown before DC scored a first-round knockout. And in the rematch they went toe-to-toe for four rounds. Until Miocic floored Cormier to win back the title. But this time it will be different, according to Cormier. He said back surgery leading up to the August 2019 rematch kept him from training as a wrestler.
Stipe Miocic vs Daniel Cormier UFC 252 Pick
The size of the cage could be a source of unease for Miocic. However, there doesn’t seem to be other alternatives for the UFC. Thus, customers of top offshore sportsbooks should keep that in mind. Miocic won’t have space to move his feet and get out of the way of takedowns. The smaller Octagon will make it more difficult for the champ to regain his verticality.
