Stipe Miocic will defend his heavyweight title against Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 on Saturday night in Las Vegas. These two met at UFC 220 in January of 2018 and it was Miocic winning by unanimous decision. This fight is one of four on the main pay-per-view part of UFC 260: Miocic vs. Ngannou 2. There are also a total of six fights on the preliminary card, with three on ESPN and three on ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass. Let's look at the bout between Miocic and Ngannou and UFC predictions.
UFC 260: Miocic vs. Ngannou 2 Betting
Stipe Miocic (20-3, 14-3 UFC)
Miocic came into the UFC with a record of 6-0 and he has gone 14-3 in the UFC. He has 15 wins by knockout and 5 by decision. He won the UFC heavyweight title against Fabricio Werdum in May of 2016. He knocked out Alistair Overeem and Junior dos Santos in his first two title defenses and then he got his win against Ngannou in 2018. Miocic lost the title to Daniel Cormier in July of 2018 but he came back to beat Cormier at UFC 241 in August of 2019. Miocic beat Cormier again, winning by unanimous decision at UFC 252 last August.
Miocic said the rematch against Ngannou on Saturday night will not be like their first fight. "It won't be nothing like the first fight because he's definitely gotten better and so have I," Miocic said to the media, "A lot of things are going to change. I'm trying to make it a more one-sided fight, and of course try to end it early, but he's gotten better. The man hits hard and it's the heavyweight division so anything can happen."
Francis Ngannou (15-3, 10-2 UFC)
Ngannou came into the UFC with a record of 5-1 and he has gone 10-2 in the UFC. He has 11 knockout wins and 4 submission wins. He lost to Miocic in January of 2018 and then he lost a unanimous decision to Derrick Lewis in July of 2018. Ngannou bounced back to knock out Curtis Blaydes in November of 2018. Ngannou followed that win with wins against Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos and Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
Ngannou said he made a mistake last time he faced Miocic. "Last time, I went in there, and this was one of the biggest mistakes that I did back there," Ngannou said to the media, "I went there to knock him out, which is something that I never did, even though almost all my fights has been a knockout. But it always came by itself. I never (looked for it). And for once I (looked for it), it didn't go well."
Striking Stats
Strikes landed per minute: Miocic 4.90/ Ngannou 2.23
Striking Accuracy: Miocic 52% / Ngannou 37%
Strikes absorbed per minute: Miocic 3.75/ Ngannou 2.03
Defense: Miocic 55% / Ngannou 47%
Grappling Stats
Takedown average: Miocic 1.92/ Ngannou 0.00
Takedown Accuracy: Miocic 34% / Ngannou 0%
Takedowns defended: Miocic 70% / Ngannou 71%
Submission average: Miocic 0.0/ Ngannou 0.5
UFC Picks
When these two fought a few years ago it was a major surprise how dominant Miocic was. The main strategy for Miocic was to get Ngannou to the mat. That may happen yet again, as Ngannou doesn't have a great takedown defense. One thing that happened in the first fight is that Miocic took a lot of shots. That will happen again and this time around I expect Ngannou to take a lot of big hits as well. Whether he can withstand the big shots and land enough big strikes of his own is the question. I am definitely not underestimating Miocic, but the power of Ngannou is definitely real. Oddsmakers don't believe this fight is going to last long, as they posted a rounds total of 1.5. I think oddsmakers know what they are doing, so I will take this fight under the rounds total.
UFC 260: Miocic vs. Ngannou 2 Card & Odds
Heavyweight - Stipe Miocic +101 vs. Francis Ngannou -125
Welterweight - Tyron Woodley +207 vs. Vicente Luque -255
Bantamweight - Thomas Almeida +246 vs. Sean O'Malley -308
Lightweight - Jamie Mullarkey -107 vs. Khama Worthy -117
Light Heavyweight - Modestas Bukauskas +127 vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk -152
Women's Strawweight - Jessica Penne -107 vs. Hannah Goldy -117
Middleweight - Marc-Andre Barriault -127 vs. Abu Azaitar +103
Women's Flyweight - Gillian Robertson +134 vs. Miranda Maverick -162
Light Heavyweight - Alonzo Menifield -112 vs. William Knight -112
Welterweight - Jared Gooden +181 vs. Abubakar Nurmagomedov -220
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