President Milanović Presents the Order of the Croatian Star with the Effigy of Franjo Bučar to Stipe Miočić

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović presented the Order of the Croatian Star with the Effigy of Franjo Bučar to Croatian-American mixed martial arts fighter Stipe Miočić for successfully promoting the image and interests of the Republic of Croatia in the United States of America, as well as for proudly displaying his Croatian origin and heritage during his years-long exceptional sports career.

“It is a special pleasure, a joy and honour to present this decoration to you. Your active career has ended; we in Croatia, as well as all sports fans, have closely followed it with enthusiastic ardour”, President Milanović stated when presenting the Order of the Croatian Star with the Effigy of Franjo Bučar to retired mixed martial arts fighter Stipe Miočić.

In his address, President Milanović said that Stipe Miočić’s sports career is impressive and thanked him for all he has done “for the promotion of Croatia in the world because your appearances with the Croatian coat of arms and Croatian insignia did not go unnoticed”.

Finally, President Milanović addressed Stipe Miočić’s mother, who returned to Croatia after fifty years. “You are probably immensely proud, not because of this decoration but because of your son’s successes. This success is personal both at the beginning and in the end, and a family success, a small community of a few people. As proud as we are of your successes, it is your success and that of the closest people to you”, President Milanović concluded.

“I’m not a man of many words and this is overwhelming for me. This is surreal. I’m in an amazing country and I can only say thank you, President, for this today. I’m grateful to you, I’m grateful to all the people and I don’t think this could be any better. You really don’t know how much this means to me”, Stipe Miočić stated after receiving the decoration from President Milanović.

The Croatian-American mixed martial arts fights Stipe Miočić arrived in Croatia to participate in the Sunset Sports Festival, which will take place in Zadar these days. As one of the all-time greatest MMA fighter, Miočić will be the main guest at this year’s festival that will bring together many famous people from the world of sports, media, technology and business. 

Accompanying Mr. Miočić at the ceremony in the Office of the President of the Republic were members of his family: his wife Ryan Marie Miočić, his children Meelah Claire Miočić and Mateo Cruz Miočić, his mother Katherine Miočić and his mother-in-law Jean Marie Carney, his assistant Hayley Cohen, as well as the director of the Sunset Sports Festival Damjan Rudež, the communications and marketing director of Millenium promocije Filip Orlić.

Alongside the President of the Republic of Croatia were the Head of the Cabinet of the President Bartol Šimunić, the Commissioner to the President for Sports Tomislav Paškvalin, the Adviser to the President for Foreign and Europen Policy Neven Pelicarić, the Adviser to the President for Education Jadranka Žarković, the Secretary-General of the Office of the President Dinko Suton, the Assistant Head of the Office of the President Goran Grobotek, the Special Adviser to the President for the Economy Velibor Mačkić, the Assistant Adviser to the President for Foreign and European Policy Ivan Mutavdžić, the Assistant Adviser to the President for the Economy, the Head of the Military Office in the Cabinet for Defense and National Security of the Office of the President Brigadier General Ivica Kranjčević.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Filip Glas, Marko Beljan