The New Year will bring about one of the most highly anticipated heavyweight title fights in recent memory at UFC 270, when Franci Ngannou will battle former training partner and current interim champion, Ciryl Gane in Anaheim, California.
The fight will take place on January 22, 2022 and whilst it is still over a month away, the first pay-per-view fight of 2022 is already garnering a lot of interest, with ESPN+ already launching their first trailer for the event.
Ngannou is the current division champion, however, in the last two years, Ngannou has only been in the ring four times and has not had a fight in over 10 months. In those four fights, he has only been in the ring for a total of 169 seconds and so, despite coming into the fight as the division champion, Ngannou is going to have his work cut out against hard-hitting Gane in this unification fight.
UFC 270 – what you need to know
Date: 22 January 2022
Where: Honda Centre, Anaheim, California
Time: UFC 270 kicks off with the preliminary fights at 6 pm EST on ESPN and streaming service ESPN+
Odds: Ngannou is 1.83 and Gane is 1.95 with Betway Sports
Whilst Ngannou vs Gane is the headline fight on the card, A UFC flyweight championship trilogy bout between current champion Brandon Moreno and former champion Deiveson Figueiredo is also on the card for the night. Moreno is the clear favourite with Betway who have him at 1.61 with Figueiredo at 2.30.
There are currently 14 fights slated for UFC 270 and it promises to be a blockbuster start to the UFC calendar in 2022.
Ngannou vs Gane – current form
As we have already mentioned, Ngannou comes into this fight with very little time in the cage under his belt in the past two years. He does, however, have a strong pedigree and his record speaks for itself. Ngannou is a hard-hitter and is also a very talented boxer. He has become a better fighter under trainer Eric Nicksick, learning to conserve his energy and wait for the right moment to strike, using his immense power to overwhelm opponents.
Frenchman Gane earned his way to this title unification fight by stopping fellow hard-hitter Derrick Lewis. Like Ngannou, Gane is a technically gifted fighter and has risen to the top, largely thanks to his Muay Thai skills. Whilst this division usually favours power punchers with solid boxing skills, Gane’s striking skills could be deployed against competitors 50 pounds lighter.
This fight is going to be very tight as the betting odds would suggest. It is going to be a battle of Ngannou’s immense power versus the speed and agility of Gane.
Despite Ngannou’s immense power, Gane is confident that he can manage the power. Speaking to BT Sports ahead of UFC 268, Gane talks about his sparring days with Ngannou and how he has become a “more intelligent fighter”, however, he still feels he has what it takes to beat him at UFC 270.
Gane will be relying on his speed and agility – abnormal for a heavyweight fighter – in order to overcome heavy-hitting Ngannou. Gane has fantastic kickboxing skills and bounces on his feet, unleashing his kicks with lightning speed.
What will be the deciding factor?
It’s clear that both fighters have the necessary skills to win the fight, so what will be the deciding factors?
In Ngannou’s favour, he has the octagon experience. He has fought, and beaten, some of the biggest names in the heavyweight division including Stipe Miocic, Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez. He is used to the pressure of the octagon and big fight nights and is one of the elite fighters across all divisions of UFC.
In Gane’s favour, despite not having the same level of big fight experience of Ngannou, he is an extremely fit fighter, with plenty of miles in the tank. If he can keep Ngannou at arm’s length and avoid any damaging blows early in the fight, the longer it goes on, the more opportunity he will have to use his superior fitness and speed to his advantage. Great cardio in the heavyweight division is a rare commodity, one Cain Valesquez used to his hall-of-fame run in UFC and one that could be a deciding factor in this fight.
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