{"id":32516,"date":"2025-07-30T13:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T13:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/32516\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T13:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T13:34:11","slug":"jon-jones-rival-takes-up-surprise-new-role-with-5-1-billion-nfl-team-just-months-after-final-ufc-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/32516\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Jones’ rival takes up surprise new role with $5.1 billion NFL team just months after final UFC fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic is having a ball in his new role at NFL side Cleveland Browns.<\/p>\n

Miocic was named as the Browns’ ‘Dawg Pound Captain’ one month after retiring from MMA following a loss<\/a> to Jon Jones<\/a> at UFC<\/a> 309 in November 2024.<\/p>\n

\"Miocic<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Miocic finished his UFC career against Jones in New York last NovemberCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

A ‘Dawg Pound Captain’ is tasked with getting the crowd hyped up before a Cleveland Browns<\/a> game, sitting in a particular section of their stadium to make lots of noise before kick off.<\/p>\n

Miocic adopted the role before the Browns’ NFL<\/a> game against the Kansas City Chiefs in December, and it seems he has stuck around in a new job as part of the squad.<\/p>\n

“Always needed this collab, just didn’t know this was how it would go,” wrote the official account of the Cleveland Browns<\/a> on Tuesday via X.<\/p>\n

Miocic had been recorded interacting with the team’s biggest stars in a brand new role as the club’s photographer.<\/p>\n

“I’m a content creator now, that’s what I do,” Miocic told defensive end Myles Garrett.<\/p>\n

Another member of staff added: “My protege today,” making it seem like Miocic was shadowing him as the team’s photographer for the day.<\/p>\n

Miocic, 42, is one of the most accomplished heavyweights in MMA history.<\/p>\n

He holds the record for the most victories in UFC heavyweight title fights, having originally won the belt by knocking out Fabricio Werdum in 2016 and defending it three times.<\/p>\n

The Ohio native lost the heavyweight strap to Daniel Cormier at UFC 226 in 2018, but reclaimed it in a rematch with his fellow heavyweight great and defended it in a trilogy bout.<\/p>\n

Miocic then lost the title once again to Francis Ngannou in 2021, when he was brutally knocked out<\/a>, before he took three years off and retired following his defeat to Jones.<\/p>\n

\"Miocic<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Miocic was tasked with taking photos of the Browns having worked as the team’s Dawg Pound CaptainCredit: @Browns – X\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

The 42-year-old retired after fighting Jones at UFC 309Credit: GettyWho has Stipe Miocic lost to in the UFC?<\/p>\n

Miocic only lost five times during his 13-year UFC career.<\/p>\n

His first defeat came at the hands of Stefan Struve in 2012, but he didn’t suffer another loss until fighting Junior dos Santos two years later.<\/p>\n

Miocic then went on his iconic heavyweight run that led to him winning his first UFC title, before he dropped the belt to Cormier.<\/p>\n

His last two defeats in Dana White<\/a>‘s promotion came in his final two fights against Ngannou and Jones.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry I don\u2019t get the W, but you can\u2019t get em all,” Miocic said in an emotional statement, confirming his retirement after the loss to Jones.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes it\u2019s not your night; that is the nature of the beast.<\/p>\n

\"Miocic<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Miocic won the UFC heavyweight title for the first time in 2016Credit: UFC<\/p>\n

“You can\u2019t plan a perfect ending in this sport, but I guess the perfect ending is to have been lucky enough to do it at all.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic is having a ball in his new role at NFL side Cleveland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,11877,30233,4443,30232,30235,30236,785,9226,30234,85,30231,787,30237,1396,28590],"class_list":{"0":"post-32516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-jon-jones","12":"tag-jon-jones-rival","13":"tag-jones","14":"tag-miocic","15":"tag-miocic-cleveland-browns","16":"tag-miocic-ufc","17":"tag-mma","18":"tag-mma-news","19":"tag-nfl-cleveland-browns","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-stipe-miocic","22":"tag-ufc","23":"tag-ufc-latest","24":"tag-ufc-news","25":"tag-ufc-today"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}