Ngannou fans are probably wondering, “Will Francis be able to stuff the takedowns of Stipe for the rematch?” That was his biggest problem in their first match, he simply had no answer to Miocic’s wrestling.
Few days left for UFC 260 and it will be Ngannou’s second chance at the title, but he still has not shown any hints of improvement since their last fight. One of the main reasons is because of his gifted power, his fights just end so fast that analyst and fans have not seen anything new. Who can blame him? If the fighter has a chance to finish it with no injuries, he would take it.
So if we go back in time and look at Ngannou’s run since his first UFC loss. After suffering his brutal loss, he was then scheduled to face Derrick Lewis where many thought to be a guaranteed knockout fight since both are heavy handed fighters. Unfortunately, that was not the case as Ngannou became gun-shy with his strikes. It was likely due to being too cautious of suffering another loss.
After that he switch camps, that may have led him to have a different approach to the game. Since then he is riding on a four fight win streak and all ending in the first round which is pretty much CRAZY! His longest fight lasted a little over a minute to the fight and it was against Junior Dos Santos.
How different will his approach be coming to the Miocic fight? Has he improved his wrestling as we all know Miocic will use again. Yes, Ngannou has faced Curtis Blaydes and Cain Velasquez who are great wrestlers but the fight ended too fast that they could not test his wrestling.
What makes Miocic different from his past opponents is how good he mixes his boxing and wrestling. In their fight, he chose to keep distance and just win the rounds. It shows how massive his experience is compared to Ngannou. Miocic got clipped in the fight but it did not seem to knock him out. Ngannou was so new to going the 5 round fight that he gassed easily.
In a Joe Rogan Podcast, he gives his own perspective about his loss and how it changed his game. Now he is training his hardest to prepare for the fight, it is worth noting that in his first title fight, he only had 6 weeks to recover and prepare. A different Ngannou is expected in the rematch.
It is also a great addition that the UFC Welterweight Champion, Kamaru Usman will be in his corner. Usman is known for his wrestling, so he could give great advice on how to defend takedowns.
