Francis Ngannou remains the UFC’s best heavyweight after convincing Ciryl Gane that there is more to him than just a highlight reel knockout. He fought five rounds and pinned Ciryl Gane, securing his UFC 270 title.
No one could have predicted that it would be Ngannou’s wrestling and conditioning that would wear down Gane round after round to ultimately win by unanimous decision for the first time in his career with the judges scoring the fight 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 in his favor.
” I knew he was going to be tough opponent,” Ngannou stated about Gane. “No doubt. His performance was outstanding. The only thing that I had to do and my coaches were reminding me all the time, stay composed, calm down, don’t chase him, trust yourself and we get it.”
A powerhouse on the feet, Ngannou was stalking Gane across the octagon at the start of the fight while looking to uncork a knockout shot. Gane was able to dodge some of Ngannou’s more severe shots, but he did land a few hard punches.
In exchange, Gane was closing in on Ngannou, forcing him to work harder to get free, and finally tagging his body. Gane was showing incredible quickness on his feet, which made Ngannou work that much harder to catch up to him and he was eating shots while moving forward.
Gane’s movement was definitely giving Ngannou problems as he struggled to catch up to his opponent in the exchanges. Gane was fast in and out, picking his shots as “The Predator .”
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With Gane still dictating the pace, Ngannou looked to turn the tables after catching a kick and then just slamming the Frenchman down to the canvas. While Ngannou was in control momentarily, Gane eventually scrambled free in order to get back up to his feet.
As Gane broke free from a battle in the clinch against the cage, he launched a huge spinning back elbow that clipped Ngannou before resetting in the center of the octagon. Gane peppered away, but then gave up another takedown that saw Ngannou start to use his wrestling skills.
With the fight in the fourth round fading, Ngannou tried his grappling again. He dragged Gane down to the floor, but he was able to maintain his top control. Ngannou still scored points even though the minutes turned into minutes, Gane submerged him.
Between rounds coach Fernand Lopez shouted to Gane to not let the fight slip by him. This led him to go for his own takedown to knock Ngannou to the floor. Gane attacked with a heelhook, but Ngannou was patient and escaped. He then returned to the top.
While he wasn’t mounting much damage, Ngannou just continued to pressure Gane on the ground while mauling his former training partner, who just looked lost when it came to his ability to get free and return to his feet. That’s exactly where Gane stayed until the final horn sounded with Ngannou confident in the victory as he put his hands in the air to celebrate his first title defense.
“I’m so sorry for today,” Gane said after suffering the first loss of his career. Francis deserves our congratulations. I’m very sad but it’s good experience. The future lies ahead of me .”
In an unusual twist, UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard wrapped Ngannou’s heavyweight title around his waist, rather than Dana White (who was not there). Ngannou smiled and revealed that he had suffered a severe injury which nearly stopped him from participating on Saturday.
“It’s been an incredible journey,” Ngannou said. “A very tough 10 months. Three weeks ago I injured my knee. I tore my MCL completely, hurt my ACL. Although I was ready to withdraw from the fight, I could not see it as a way to let people know that I’m the champ. It was important to reiterate that I am the champion .”
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Ngannou is now the champion, but it’s still unclear what his next steps will be. He fought his UFC contract and won over Gane. While a champion’s clause will prevent Ngannou from just leaving the UFC to become a free agent, it remains to be seen if he’ll be able to come to terms with the promotion on a new deal or end up in a lengthy standoff as he seeks more freedom to pursue other interests such as a potential fight with heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury.
” “Boxing, as I always tell people, is always in my back pocket,” Ngannou stated. It’s something that I have to do before my career ends. It’s not like I have a lifetime here.”
