Tomorrow night in the main event of UFC 270, we will see a showdown for the undisputed heavyweight championship. Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou (16-3) takes on the interim champion Ciryl Gane (10-0) in one of the more highly anticipated heavyweight title fights in history.
This is such an intriguing matchup and it’s got some personal routes. For UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, the issues are with Gane’s head coach. Fernand Lopez used to be Ngannou’s head coach. He is now the head coach of Ciryl Gane. There has been some verbal back-and-forth between the two men.
Ngannou made the switch to Xtreme Couture and Eric Nicksick a couple of years ago and he led Ngannou to the UFC heavyweight title last year when Ngannou knocked out Stipe Miocic. During Ngannou’s rise, Ciryl Gane was also rising up through the ranks under Fernand Lopez.
Gane had a sensational 2021 that saw him go 3-0. Everything culminated for him when he defeated Derrick Lewis to become the UFC’s interim champion. That interim title is his ticket to taking on Francis Ngannou for the undisputed title tomorrow night.
When you break down this UFC 270 headliner, Ciryl Gane has the better overall game. From a technical perspective, Gane is one of the best strikers we’ve ever seen in the heavyweight division. He moves like someone in the middleweight division and he controls distance better than anyone.
On top of his striking, he has very good grappling skills. Skill for skill, you would have to favor Gane and that is why he’s the betting favorite at UFC 270. However, Ngannou has a great equalizer that can’t be ignored. Ngannou has more power than anyone we’ve ever seen in the UFC.
If he connects cleanly once, it’s hard to imagine anyone standing up through it. That’s what makes predicting this fight so difficult. I think that Ciryl Gane is going to have a lot of moments tomorrow night. He’s going to control distance well and he’s going to frustrate Ngannou at times.
However, whenever they get in close, I’ve seen some holes in Gane’s boxing defense. He keeps his chin up too much. If he does that with Ngannou, it’s only going to take one shot. From a technical perspective, I want to pick Gane to win. However, my heart is telling me that Ngannou will land that perfect shot at UFC 270.
Prediction: Francis Ngannou by KO – Round 2
This post was published on 2022-01-21 11:07
