Francis Ngannou vs. Ciryl Gane was everything that was advertised as Gane stepped up to challenge for the heavyweight title.
The two fighters met in a bout on Saturday night (January 22, 2022) at the UFC 270 pay-per-view event from Anaheim, California at the Honda Center. Francis was wearing knee pads. Not a ton happened in the first frame aside from clinch work.
Gane started letting his hands go in the second round and was landing some kicks. Another lackluster round as Francis is swinging, but not connecting. In the third round, Francis caught a kick and slammed him down hard right into side control.
This happened another time with Gane continuously getting back up. Ngannou was tired at this point. Ngannou got a few more takedowns in the fourth round, but Gane did a nice job of defending transitions and wrist control.
Ngannou got a takedown to open the fifth round, but Gane went for a leg submission only for Ngannou to get out and got on top in half guard. Francis was awarded the decision win. Ngannou revealed he tore his MCL in training and injured his ACL in training for this fight.
Peep the highlights of the fight courtesy of the UFC’s official Twitter account:
Ngannou entered this fight on a five-bout winning streak. He scored three straight first-round KO wins over the likes of Curtis Blaydes in November 2018, Cain Velasquez in February 2019, and Junior Dos Santos in June 2019. He previously knocked out Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC 249 before knocking out Stipe Miocic to win the UFC heavyweight title at UFC 260.
Gane picked up a few wins under the TKO banner where he finished all of his fights before going to the UFC. He beat Raphael Pessoa by submission in his promotional debut with the UFC. He got decision, submission and KO victories. He beat Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC Vegas 20 by decision and then over Alexander Volkov at UFC Vegas 30th by decision. He won the interim title with a TKO win over Derrick Lewis at UFC 265.
Let’s see how the fighters reacted to the outcome of this fight:
UFC 270 Results & Highlights: Francis Ngannou vs. Ciryl Gane
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