UFC 270: Francis Ngannou vs. Ciryl Gane Picks and Predictions

Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane face off in the heavyweight title bout for the main event of UFC 270 at the Honda Center in Anaheim. These two both hold the belt right now, and there is some bad blood between these two fighters. 

Francis “The Predator” Ngannou comes into this fight with a 16-3 record overall and he has won five fights in a row. Ngannou’s last fight came against Stipe Miocic and he dominated that fight. Early in the second round he finished the fight by knockout. Ngannou is averaging 2.54 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 2.04 significant strikes per minute. Ngannou’s stats actually don’t look all that impressive, but the thing that has been the most impressive is the way he is able to finish the fights. Each of the last five wins have been by knockout and all by the last one happened in the first 1:11 of the first round. There is no doubt he is going to hunt for the knockout early, but the question is how he will respond the longer the fight goes on. 

On the other side of this fight is Ciryl Gane who comes into this fight with a perfect 10 record and he has had seven wins inside the UFC. In the last fight against Derrick Lewis in August of 2021 it was late in the third round he was able to finish the fight by knockout. Gane is averaging 5.37 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 2.40 significant strikes per minute. He is also averaging 0.71 successful takedowns every 15 minutes. Gane is only successful on 20 percent of his takedown attempts, but stops 100 percent of his opponents takedown attempts. Gane is going to need to inflict damage early, but he also needs to stop the big strikes from Ngannou.