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Stipe Miocic clearly has knockout power in his hands. But the question is whether he has staying power as a champion.

The 33-year-old Cleveland native finally got his shot at the UFC heavyweight title in May and did not disappoint. He dropped title holder Fabricio Werdum in just under three minutes with a sweeping jab that didn't even look that powerful.

But here we are again in the heavyweight division where five different people have held the title in the last six years. No heavyweight champion has ever defended his belt more than twice.

It feels like an anomaly when you look at other divisions where Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva reigned as champions for so long.

But it also comes with the territory. Most of the champions that go on long title runs get more polished and don't take as many risks the longer they have the belt (sans Siva until he got knocked out).

Since 2008, only one heavyweight title fight has gone the distance and it was a hellacious war between Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez. Besides that, there have been two submissions and the rest knockouts within the first three rounds.

That is great for us as the viewing audience because you know going in that both men are going to be swinging for their lives to win the belt.

But it also injects a bit of randomness to the fights where one punch landed correctly ends a championship run.

Which brings us back to Miocic. There's no denying how powerful the Cleveland native is. Since joining the UFC in 2011, he's 9-2 with six KO/TKO victories. His last loss came in 2014 to former champion Junior Dos Santos. He also beat a string of former champs/No. 1 contenders to get to this position.

"My mindset is I'm going to smash him," Miocic said via WKYC. "I'm not giving up that belt. I worked too hard to get it, and I'm not letting anyone take it from me, especially beating me in Cleveland? No way. I want that belt. I got it, and now, I'm keeping it. I don't want to let go of it."

Now in his way is a another veteran fighter who has somehow never had a UFC title shot: Alistair Overeem. The Dutchman has been fighting for a long time and has nearly as many submission victories (19) and knockouts (18).

The question once again becomes: can a heavyweight champion last more than two defenses? Miocic has as good a chance as any. But beware the one-punch lotto ticket.