Is it going to be Stipe Miocic or Francis Ngannou at the UFC 260? The old or the new UFC heavyweight champion? This is undoubtedly the most interesting, exciting, hyped (and everything else that goes) fight of the year, and arguably one of the biggest shows in the organization’s history. These two guys are for sure the best heavyweight specimens in this decade, which is why their second clash generates such a buzz. Miocic is on his way to become the best heavyweight in history, and Ngannou wants to prove all the talks he is the strongest puncher ever to be in any combat sports. That’s why BetXChange delivers a preview of this epic clash set for this Saturday.
Preview
Stipe Miocic (21-3) is the guy who has the most title fights in the division, and more importantly, the most wins. He only lost to Daniel Cormier, but got avenged to DC with interest, trashing him twice in a row, just in case if someone wants to dispute his first win over the former two-division champ.
Three fights against Cormier are the only ones Miocic had after he triumphed over Ngannou at the UFC 220. For many, this can be a problem because he didn’t have to adjust to other opponents, and that might have caused for him to slow down and rust a little bit.
Yet having in mind that he is the best ever tactician in the UFC, all this doesn’t have to mean anything. Stipe’s gameplan was always perfect, and the team around him scouts the opponent from top to bottom.
Francis Ngannou (18-3) had five different opponents after Stipe, losing the first bout following UFC 220 to Derrick Lewis. The two were equally bad in this event, but it seemed that the judges decided to punish Ngannou in this event due to his ultra-defensive appearance.
He would react after that and go on a brutal spree that saw him defeating Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, and Jairzinho Rozenstruik, all via first-round KO, with dos Santos lasting the most, one minute and eleven seconds.
The Predator is maybe the most intimidating character in any combat sport since Mike Tyson, and even though many wouldn’t like this to hear, he has a more powerful strike than Iron Mike. In fact, Ngannou has THE strongest punch ever. You might as well ask all his rivals, they are going to confirm that. Since coming to the UFC, just one of his wins didn’t come via knockout.
Head to Head
That UFC 220 saw these two guys also clashing in the match for the heavyweight title. Even though Ngannou entered a bit more energetic, Miocic took over early on, and after the first round, completely dominated the challenger, whose cardio was pretty bad. It would allow the champ to hurt his rival in so many ways, yet he couldn’t finish. In the end, this was Miocic’s very confident win and another, third in a row, title defense.
Prediction
We believe that Ngannou improved since that last fight, and that on the other side, the age caught up with Miocic. If he comes out of this one as the winner, it’s going to be a surprise for our entire crew. Ngannou worked very hard to erase all the minuses in his fight, and in our opinion, he should win Saturday’s battle. Odds on this pick at BetXChange are 0.72.
