The heavyweight division could use some new faces. Enter France’s Francis Ngannou - 6-1, 3 KOs, 3 SUBs - who will look to build on his UFC debut win against undefeated Curtis Blaydes - 5-0 - this Sunday.
Blaydes enters the bout on short notice as a late replacement for Bojan Mihajlovic.
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Heavyweights
Francis Ngannou vs. Curtis Blaydes
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THE STAKES
For both men, the fight is an opportunity for some facetime in front of UFC brass. Although they’re relatively unknown fighters with paltry records, the good news is that they reside in the heavyweight division. Considering how thin the division is, it only takes a few wins to secure a bout against a known commodity like Gabriel Gonzaga or even somebody like Roy Nelson.
Obviously, the spotlight is on Ngannou, who has some promise and certainly passes the eyeball test. His spectacular uppercut knockout of Luis Henrique in his UFC debut set a high bar for his first fight on a main card.
FIGHT ANALYSIS
Both Ngannou and Blaydes are as raw as ground beef. Blaydes is just five fights into his pro career, and his most notable fight was against Luis Cortez in the respected Resurrection Fighting Alliance. Prior to that, he scrapped in tiny regional promotions like RDMMA and XFO.
What he has going for him is that he’s just 25 years old, and he’s a behemoth at 6’4”, 265 pounds. All of his wins have come by way of TKO, so we know the dude has got some pop. This isn’t a case of all first round KOs either, so we can assume he’s got some cardio despite his massive size.
Ngannou is a chiseled 6’4”, 250 pounds - reminiscent of a young Cheick Kongo. But he’s far more quicker and explosive than the French kickboxer. That bodes well, since Kongo carved out a respectable octagon career. However, he’s far more well-rounded than his countryman.
He’s finished all of his bouts, with an equal number of knockouts and submissions. Ngannou trains at MMA Factory, which has several UFC caliber fighters. If he can keep evolving his skillset, he could be a factor in the division. He’s already more physically gifted than many of his peers.
PREDICTION
Blaydes is a complete unknown, but the fact of the matter is that he’s making a huge jump from RFA to the UFC. He’s also coming in a short training camp and is nowhere near the athlete that Ngannou is. This should be an easy win for the Frenchman, who should be able to take down Blaydes and expose a burgeoning ground game.
NGANNOU SUB BLAYDES, ROUND 1
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