Stipe Miocic last night became the most decorated heavyweight in UFC history after dominating challenger Francis N’Gannou in a five-round contest to successfully defend his heavyweight championship for a record breaking third time.
Cleveland’s Miocic dominated the contest from the opening round in Boston's TD garden, using his pace off the back foot to avoid the ferocious power of the challenger. Miocic neutralized N’Gannou’s power by also landing numerous takedowns throughout the contest.
N’Gannou had never been outside the second round in his MMA career. The challenger slowed noticeably in the second round after Miocic weathered the early onslaught of the first round.
The performance of a true champion ðŸ†
Stipe Miocic makes history at #UFC220 by dominating Francis Ngannou from start to finish 🙌 pic.twitter.com/WDN5DoPX5O
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) January 21, 2018
Miocic entered the contest as underdog but the longer the fight progressed it was evident the champion’s fight IQ and expierence were superior to that of N’Gannou.
The French based fighter had no response to the numerous takedowns landed by the champion. He also took some big shots from the former Cleveland Golden Gloves champion boxer. The lack of diversity in his skill set was clear to see to see, it was all about landing a big shot for N’Gannou.
The only time Miocic looked in any kind of trouble was for a moment in the third round when N’Gannou landed a shot to the eye of the champion. The eye swelled up instantly. Miocic was rocked but recovered quickly to land another takedown to quench any momentum or hopes the Cameroonian had.
The fact N’Gannou has only been a pro-fighter for 4 years definitely hindered his chances. There seemed to be no ‘plan b’ for the challenger, and the further the fight progressed, his chances evaporated.
In truth, Miocic probably could have finished the fight in the fourth round. He landed a big takedown on N’Gannou early on, and followed the it up to land a barrage of shots on the challenger as his turtled up against the fence, doing little to respond to the champion’s shots. Miocic landed 18 of 21 strikes thrown in the round with Ngannou landing zero from three attempts. All three judges scored the round a 10-8. Highlighting Miocic’s dominant display.
#UFC220 official scorecard: Stipe Miocic def. Francis Ngannou via Unanimous Decision (50-44, 50-44, 50-44) pic.twitter.com/HDSykIXKVK
— Mike Fridley (@mikefridley) January 21, 2018
The Cleveland based fire fighter ran out a unanimous decision victory. Taking the bout 50-44 on all three judges scorecards.
The Team Strongstyle fighter now holds the record for most UFC heavyweight title defenses with three. He is now on a five-fight unbeaten streak, finishing all but one fight in the last six.
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