Three fights in as many years rejuvenated the UFC's heavyweight title picture. Stipe Miocic, by virtue of being a good fighter rather than old, big and clumsy like the bulk of his division made history by winning and then defending the heavyweight championship three times as part of a six-fight win streak.

Having cleaned out all the top contenders at UFC 226 on July 7, 2018, he faced then-UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel "DC" Cormier in a super fight. At 6'3" and 233 lbs, he was significantly larger than the 5"11" Cormier, who bulked up to 236 lbs for the bout. So it was a shock when Miocic was KO'd 4:33 into Round 1.

The finish was controversial as Miocic was recovering from an eye poke when the knockout punch landed. A rematch was booked for UFC 241 the following summer. This time Miocic got the win and his title back, with a TKO in Round 4.

Again, eye pokes played a major part. Cormier's stance has him standing like a boxer, only with his fingers fully extended so he can switch to wrestling whenever needed. This is typical for a lot of fighters who began as college wrestlers, however, for him, as he is constantly testing his range against larger guys and always working for a clinch, he tends to make a lot of eye pokes.

In this case, even though Miocic won, it was more severe than before, and he had to take a year out to recover from retina damage. Likewise, Cormier's recurring back injuries had reached the stage where he knew his career winding down, so it made sense to book the decider when both men were healthy.

Today, at UFC 252 at the UFC APEX, that fight took place. In an era where bigmouths like Israel Adesanya and Conor McGregor build anticipation with trash talk, it was refreshing to see the two men come into the event with a healthy competitive respect for each other.

Miocic thinks he lost the first fight because of a lucky punch, DC thinks he lost the rematch because he didn't prepare correctly, both think the other is one of the best of all time.

However, when the fight began, it seemed like only Miocic was telling the truth. He was visibly much leaner than before and was lighter on his feet, while Cormier looked exactly as he did in their last fight, the one he said he didn't train correctly for.

The first two frames were incredibly even, and very familiar. Cormier kept the distance short and looked for the right uppercut that finished Miocic the first time, there was even another eye poke; Miocic focused on his boxing, tagging DC in the body until he exposed his head. He also focused on clinch defense, controlling DC's wrists whenever they were up at the fence. Then, in the closing seconds of Round 2, he leaped into action and launched some hard rights on the run, just as in his title win over Werdum.

DC was down but not out and managed to intelligently defend himself in the final seconds of the round. According to commentator Dominick Cruz, DC says he always takes the third round off in title fights, and this was no exception as he seemed to be keeping Miocic in the clinch and doing nothing with it as if holding him tightly would he recover from the almost-KO.

At the end of the round, karma struck, and Miocic tagged DC with an incredibly hard eye poke. It was so bad that in the break before Round 4, he told his corner he couldn't see, and it was clearly misaligned. The fight continued, and it was still remarkably close with the two men sticking to their established game plans.

By the fifth and final round, it started to seem like only one man had learned anything from their previous encounters. DC, who represented the U.S. as a wrestler in international competition, only attempted two takedowns in the entire fight and seemed insistent on trying to prove he could outbox the bigger, rangier man. Miocic meanwhile had prepared for the same type of striking he faced in their second fight and did everything he could to prevent DC from timing his powerful right uppercut.

It ultimately went the distance, and Stipe Miocic won by unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46). Miocic's victory marks the end of an era as DC announced his retirement in his post-fight interview. He rides into the sunset with something of a sour legacy.

He was undefeated in his MMA career besides for Miocic at heavyweight and Jon Jones at light heavyweight. In both instances, he lost in trilogies (2-1 to Miocic, 2-0 to Jones), and his opponents used those wins to establish legacies as the best ever in their respective divisions. There are worse things in the world than being the definitive second-best in two MMA divisions, but being known as the perennial silver medalist has to hurt.