Stipe Miocic gets out of his Dodge Rebel pickup, opens the truck's backdoor to grab a black UFC duffel bag and slings it over his left shoulder.
It's 7:16 a.m. in this Cleveland suburb. The sun is barely up, with another muggy July day expected. Miocic opens the side door of the Valley View Fire Department station house and makes his way in. The lights are dim inside.
In three weeks, Miocic will fight Daniel Cormier for the UFC heavyweight title in front of a sold-out crowd. He's part of the main event of UFC 241 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. But today? He's a firefighter and paramedic arriving for a 24-hour shift.
Inside the house, the firefighters who worked overnight are beginning their day. "The Blind Side" plays on the television. Miocic goes into the adjacent room to change into his uniform: a navy blue T-shirt with the Valley View FD crest on the breast, black slacks and black boots.
The smell of pain-relief cream wafts in from the room where Miocic is changing. He says he's a bit "worn out." He has been in training camp for two months, juggling mixed martial arts training five or six days per week with three firehouse shifts per week. He trains sometimes twice daily, and those firehouse shifts are 12 or 24 hours apiece. This is his last one before he will celebrate his daughter Meelah's first birthday and start to focus full time on trying to reclaim the UFC title he lost to Cormier in July 2018.
Miocic's name is spelled incorrectly -- "Moicic" -- on his fire jacket, and he has never cared enough to get it changed. For the UFC, he's a headliner on the marquee, one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all time. At the station, spelling his name right isn't even a priority.
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