Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou II – UFC 260 Staff Predictions
In the UFC 260 main event we have an epic heavyweight rematch between Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou.
Who’ll emerge with the heavyweight title? Let’s see what the LowKickMMA staff think.
Jordan Ellis: I almost feel bad for making this pick but I’m backing Francis Ngannou at UFC 260. For me, Stipe Miocic is one of the most underrated champions in MMA history. And here I am picking against him against a fighter he has already handily beaten. I just cannot look past the power of Ngannou. I believe he will connect early and KO Miocic to claim UFC gold later tonight.
Prediction: Francis Ngannou
Alex Lough: It’s nice to see with all that’s changed since 2018, all the questions leading in to this fight remain exactly the same as the first time they met. Will Ngannou find Miocic’s chin early? Or will he be forced to work off his back for 25 minutes? We assume Ngannou’s wrestling has gotten better since he moved his camp to Xtreme Couture, but we’ve yet to see it actually put to the test. We do know that Miocic won’t come in intimated by the power of Ngannou as other fighters have (looking at you, Rozenstruik). That could help him, or it could be his downfall. There’s really no way to predict if Ngannou is going to hit paydirt, but it’s safe to assume it won’t happen after the second round. Stipe is the heavyweight GOAT, and I think he has the tools to stretch the fight in to deep water and take over late. And still.
Prediction: Stipe Miocic
Frank Bonada: So seeing as this fight is a rematch, with several years in between the original bout and the coming fight, it only makes sense to analyse how these fighters have changed since their original meeting. And at the end of the day, there isn’t much to indicate that Francis Ngannou is any more prepared for Stipe Miocic than he was before their first fight. Ngannou has still been getting incredibly early, brutal KO’s. There is nothing there to suggest that he will be capable of defeating an opponent who can make it past the first 2 rounds. So based on that, I have to go with Mioicic to win. However, there are added caveats to this fight such as the fact that Ngannou has faced a range of opposition since the first fight, whilst Mioicic has only fought DC, albeit 3 times. Miocic was also knocked out cold for the first time in his UFC career. And he is beginning to enter the latter years of his career. These factors keep the matchup interesting, But I still have to go Stipe Miocic to win via Decision.
Prediction: Stipe Miocic
Maria Morales: While I have nothing but love for Stipe, I felt that Ngannou’s lack of a true gym was his undoing in the first fight. His body composition coming into the rematch looks phenomenal and I think the rematch favors him if he’s actually improved. Stipe is crafty, but I think Francis gets the KO/TKO no later than the 3rd round.
Prediction: Francis Ngannou
Harry O’Connor: I’ve been honestly thinking about this one all week and I’m still not sure, Francis Ngannou is great and there’s no doubt he’s improved since the pairs first bout, whereas I feel with Stipe, a lot of people would’ve expected him to have started to decline but I haven’t really seen anything that’s shown me that. I do feel that Ngannou is too good and powerful to not be a UFC Champion one day. However, right now I think Stipe will win tomorrow, he’s fought more recently and had more cage time recently than Ngannou. I’m going to predict a Stipe win tomorrow by decision again.
Prediction: Stipe Miocic
Ryan MacCarthy: The first time they fought, i was there NBD, Stipe controlled most of the fight, although he did get hit a good amount of times, but never went down from Francis’ power. If Stipe implements the same game plan as last time, wrestling, I believe he will win. If he doesn’t, I believe he will get knocked out. If you take away Ngannou’s power by wrestling him, you’re going to beat him. He’s a big guy. It takes a lot of muscle for him to move around and throw punches like he does. So the way im looking at it is, if this goes past the 1st round, this fight will really really favor Stipe big time. Thats a BIG IF tho. Francis Ngannou without a doubt has the most power this sport has ever seen. He is the Mike Tyson of MMA. In Ngannou’s last 4 fights the longest he has fought is 1:11. That is not enough time to prove that he has finessed his wrestling skills to stop the greatest heavyweight we’ve ever seen. I think the only way Francis can win this fight is if he bull rushes him out the gate and clips him. Its going to be absolute CHAOS folks. This fight alone is worth the PPV price.
Prediction: Stipe Miocic
Who do you think will win in the UFC 260 main event?
