Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 270
live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device
via the ESPN app. The
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first pay-per-view of 2022 has
arrived, and while some late changes have negatively impacted the
card in the last few weeks, the two bouts at the top might still be
enough to carry the load for UFC
270 on Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Francis
Ngannou meets Ciryl Gane
in one of the more intriguing heavyweight title fights in recent
memory, as two top talents and former training partners square off
amid the backdrop of the former possibly completing his current UFC
contract. On the other side of the size spectrum, Brandon
Moreno and Deiveson
Figueiredo finish their flyweight trilogy with the 125-pound
championship on the line. It serves as an exciting matchup on paper
and an opportunity for Moreno, the UFC’s first Mexican-born
champion, to affirm himself as the division’s true king. While
several solid pairings round out the main card, it all boils down
to the two title fights on the marquee.
Now to the UFC 270 “Ngannou vs. Gane” preview:
UFC Heavyweight Championship
C | Francis
Ngannou (16-3, 11-2 UFC) vs. #1 HW | Ciryl Gane
(10-0, 7-0 UFC)
ODDS: Gane (-155), Ngannou (+135)
Ngannou on paper should be everything the UFC wants to promote.
That was certainly the case heading into his first shot at the
heavyweight title. After a particularly brutal knockout of Alistair
Overeem to cap 2017, the UFC rushed to book “The Predator”
against Stipe
Miocic for the strap the next month, at which point the
promotional machine was put in high gear. Ngannou checks all the
boxes: a captivating life story that saw him emigrate from Cameroon
to France in order to find success as a boxer, a marketable look
that jumps off the screen and the ability to hit opponents with one
of the scariest levels of power the sport has ever seen. UFC 220
felt like it could have been the culmination of Ngannou’s meteoric
rise, but instead, it became the spot where Miocic affirmed himself
as an all-time great, surviving early trouble and eventually
exposing the gaps in the Frenchman’s game. There were some
positives for the challenger to take away, however. Even in what
turned into a tough slog of a fight, Ngannou kept fighting and
remained dangerous, suggesting that he still had the core
ingredients to become a champion. All that was lacking was the
experience. However, a subsequent loss to Derrick
Lewis raised real concerns. Ngannou looked gun-shy in a battle
of two men who each waited for the other to strike first, resulting
in his losing one of the most disappointingly awful fights in UFC
history. That was around the time it became clear that the
relationship between Ngannou and the UFC was becoming strained,
with UFC President Dana White, in particular, attempting to paint
the former title challenger as a prima donna who was falling in
love with his own hype. Still, the UFC kept putting Ngannou in main
events and prominent spots, and the Cameroonian kept up his end of
the bargain, stringing together another run of highlight-reel
knockouts until he found himself back in a familiar position. He
challenged Miocic for the heavyweight title once again, this time
in March 2021, and this time around, Ngannou cashed in on the hype,
showing enough improvements—particularly in his wrestling—to pay
the necessary dividends. Miocic never really found his way into the
fight, and the result was a brutal Ngannou knockout to claim the
title in the second round. Shortly after Ngannou’s title win, it
became apparent that his marketability as champion would not be
enough to repair the relationship between himself and the UFC. The
promotion wanted Ngannou available for a fight in August against
Lewis in the latter’s hometown of Houston, but with the champion
unable to fight until September due to promotional and charity
obligations in Cameroon, the UFC instead opted to pit “The Black
Beast” against a surging prospect and former Ngannou training
partner in Gane. The company marketed the fight around an interim
title and the idea that Ngannou was too busy basking in stardom to
defend his belt. Gane beating Lewis set the table for a
friends-turned-foes bout with an interesting backdrop from
Ngannou’s standpoint. He has been open about wanting to box and his
contractual issues with the UFC, and with a loss here, he would be
free to go. With a win, he would be subject to the champion clause
in the UFC’s contracts and stay beholden to the promotion for
another year, at which point Ngannou has made it clear he will be
done unless he receives a new contract. It would be stunning if the
UFC let a talent like Ngannou walk, and that adds multiple levels
of intrigue to what is already an excellent fight against Gane.
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Much like Ngannou, Gane has enjoyed a stunning
rise through the sport. It has been less than three and a half
years since Gane made his professional debut and under two and a
half since he made his first UFC appearance. A convert from the
kickboxing world, it became apparent in short order that there was
little that regional competition could offer “Bon Gamin.” A tall
and fluid fighter, Gane had little issue overwhelming his three
pre-UFC opponents and had nothing left to prove at that level by
the time the UFC came calling in 2019. Gane packed three fights
into the last five months of the year, and it was much the same
story. Opponents offered little on the feet, and Gane impressed by
mixing in some solid grappling skills and scoring submission wins
over Raphael
Pessoa and Don’Tale
Mayes. From there, Gane missed about a year due to various
issues—it makes his quick rise all the more impressive—though upon
his return, it was time for him to face some actual tests. Gane
handled an aging version of Junior dos
Santos before entering a main event against Jairzinho
Rozenstruik that was quite the intriguing fight on paper for
the Frenchman. Rozenstruik’s ability to hit opponents with sharp
and powerful counters figured to prove a lot about whether Gane
could ride a low-power, high-technique approach to heavyweight
success, particularly over the course of five rounds. Rozenstruik’s
inactivity led to a terrible fight in practice, but it was still an
impressive performance for Gane, who mixed it up enough to
completely neutralize a powerful threat and showed that he could
keep a pace over 25 minutes. Gane then dominated Alexander
Volkov in another five-round main event before putting away
Lewis in a one-sided performance, once again neutralizing one of
the more powerful threats in the heavyweight division, all while
walking away with a finish. They are much different fighters, but
it is difficult not to make a comparison between the rises of
Ngannou and Gane, even before factoring in the history between the
two. If he manages to get a win here, perhaps Gane will get the
amount of promotional shine he deserves.
Gane is an absolutely fascinating fighter at heavyweight, if only
because his style almost feels too good to actually work. Success
in the division usually comes through some combination of power and
durability and little else, so Gane’s ability to fluidly attack his
opponents from range really does seem like it should have gotten
him blasted for a prospect loss at some point. Yet here we are.
Without one-shot knockout power or having proven his ability to
come back from getting cracked, Gane is now one win away from
affirming himself as the best heavyweight in the world. Ngannou is
much more the typical heavyweight prospect. While his physical
gifts are unworldly for this sport and he has done well to improve,
he has not had to show much in the way of consistent technical
depth. Each man’s win against Rozenstruik basically tells the
story. Gane put on a consistent 25-minute performance based around
risk and reward, while Ngannou quickly abandoned all technique and
simply decided to blitz Rozenstruik and run him over in just 20
seconds. For as wild as that performance was, Ngannou’s subsequent
title win over Miocic does show that he can apply himself
technically as needed, and even the most minor refinements make
“The Predator” all the more dangerous. If Gane can make his style
work over 25 minutes, then he has truly cracked the code of the
heavyweight division. The two participants are essentially at size
parity, and while Ngannou is still a much more comfortable fighter
countering a pressuring opponent, the champion has shown enough
willingness to lead that he is more than capable of cracking Gane
at some point. That holds true throughout all 25 minutes. While
cardio is still a concern for Ngannou at any sort of extended pace,
he has remained a dangerous knockout artist even when tired and
does not need perfect technique to score a thudding knockout. The
fact that these two are former training partners is probably
crucial to the result of this fight, but to what extent is known
only by them. Gane figures to be more prepared than anyone for the
type of power that “The Predator” brings, but Ngannou has also felt
the type of range and speed that his adversary prefers to dictate
and should be more able than anyone to take advantage of any sort
of defensive gap. Gane also has the change-up of his wrestling, but
that may not be a smart idea to pursue unless he has Ngannou tired
and the fight well in hand. Ngannou looked much-improved against
Miocic and managed to keep that fight standing; and attempting to
take down Ngannou has historically been the easiest way for the
champion to feel out his opponents and score a quick knockout. Gane
has the tools to ride this out, but the bet is that Ngannou has
enough of a read on him to find something in the first few rounds.
In another division or against another opponent, that may not be
enough to beat Gane, but the champion has the advantage of being
one of the hardest-hitting heavyweights of all-time. The pick is
Ngannou via second-round knockout.
Continue Reading »
Moreno vs. Figueiredo
