The UFC hasn’t seen a scarier heavyweight than Francis Ngannou in a really long time. He chooses at Boston on Stipe Miocic for its championship belt Saturday.
We are only in the third week of January, however, the UFC could have trouble staging a much better card on top in 2018 than UFC 220 on Saturday night in TD Garden at Boston. It is headlined with a heavyweight title bout between champion Stipe Miocic and terrifying Francis Ngannou. The five-fight principal card is predicted to begin at 10 p.m. ET on pay-per-view. Here’s a peek at their MMA chances and those spells.
UFC 220 Miocic vs. Ngannou Odds
Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou
Records: Miocic (17-2), Ngannou (11-1)
Division: Heavyweight
UFC Odds: Ngannou -160 Prediction: Ngannou by KO/TKO
The Miocic, 35, seems to create UFC history here by making a third consecutive successful defence of his heavyweight title — that has never been done before. Miocic has won five fights in a row overall and took the belt from Fabricio Werdum by first-round knockout (punches) at UFC 198 in May 2016. Miocic then overcome Alistair Overeem in September that year by first-round knockout (punches) and got revenge on former winner Junior dos Santos in May 2017 with a first-round TKO (punches). Dos Santos handed Miocic his last loss, back in December 2014. A total of 13 of Miocic’s 17 wins have come by KO/TKO.
Ngannou, a 31-year-old out of Cameroon, will be the biggest name in the game aside from Conor McGregor, if McGregor ever fights again. “The Predator” only has catastrophic power — think Mike Tyson in his prime. Ngannou has yet to observe the third round in some of his fights, and his previous four’ve ended by either KO/TKO or submission within two minutes of the first round. Ngannou destroyed Overeem in December with a punch, and throughout his six fights in the UFC Ngannou has gained 1.83 knockdowns per 15 minutes, the highest rate among ranked heavyweights. Miocic, a former NCAA wrestler, will want this fight on the mat. He was last an underdog vs. Werdum.
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