The much-awaited heavyweight rematch between Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou is finally happening this weekend during the main event of UFC 260 in Nevada. Will Miocic humble Ngannou for the second time around? Or will Ngannou end up as the new king of the heavyweight division in the UFC? Check out our preview of this Miocic-Ngannou fight below.
It’s been a while since Miocic last fought, but all this time, he’s holding his heavyweight championship belt that he reclaimed after defeating Daniel Cormier in the 2019 rematch. Miocic would defeat Cormier again last year at UFC 252 via unanimous decision, but since then, he’s not entered the Octagon. If anything, that leaves him with a much fresher body, heading into what could be a very physical fight against Ngannou. Miocic, a wrestler, dominated Ngannou the first time these two heavyweight stars met back in 2018. Miocic controlled the fight standing up and on the ground, landing 73 percent of his significant strikes and taking down Ngannou six times on 14 attempts. On defense, he only got hit by 18 percent of Ngannou’s significant strike shots while evading all takedown attempts on his. It’s been three years since that fight, but you’d have to wonder if Miocic’s masterclass in that fight remains mental baggage on the part of Ngannou.
What’s Ngannou been up to since his loss to Miocic? Apparently, he’s been busy beating up on people inside the Octagon. Ngannou finds his way back into a title fight against Miocic again, thanks to a streak of knockout wins. Ngannou has won all of his past four fights via knockouts – each recorded in the first round. Ngannou lost to Derrick Lewis via unanimous decision after losing to Miocic, but that’s the last time the Cameroonian looked vulnerable. Knockout wins over the likes of Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, and Jairzinho Rozenstruik show that Ngannou is a more dangerous opponent for Miocic this time than when they first locked horns. The big question right now for Ngannou is whether he’s got a much-improved takedown defense to prevent Miocic from scoring lots of points off of him. Then again, it seems like it takes just one clean shot from Ngannou to end the fight on Saturday. Ngannou has 11 wins via KOs and four via submissions. He’s never been knocked out nor submitted in his pro career
