A lot has changed over the last three years since Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou last fought. Ngannou has made vast improvements to his game and seems to have done a lot of maturing as well. Even with the total time of his last four fights being barely over a couple of minutes long, the accrued time in the octagon has served him very well. As he’s only looking stronger and more devastating as time goes on.
Even though that fight was so long ago, based on how it went, it’s to be expected that Miocic would be the favorite coming into the rematch. But most oddsmakers have this fight essentially dead even, the strides Ngannou has made in his game over the years likely being the main reason.
It’s still a situation where if Stipe can weather that early storm, he is poised to win the fight. As devastating as Ngannou is, the small sample size we have of him going beyond two minutes in a fight has shown us that he most certainly slows down. The power is still there, but the speed diminishes pretty quickly.
But Ngannou seems to be entering this title fight far more ready than he was in the first world title fight. Now riding the most momentum he ever has in his career, all indications are that it’s Francis Ngannou’s time.
Watch our full video preview of the UFC 260 main event above!
