UFC 220 Miocic V Ngannouu Review

UNDER CARD

Dan Ige V Julio Arce RESULT Arce via Dec
I didn't know much about these guys ahead of this fight as both were making their UFC debuts but feel we got to know each of them better with their fight that kicked off the show. One thing I did know about Arce was that he possessed good boxing and that proved to be the deciding factor in this fight. Ige never gave up and was always trying to enforce his grappling on Arce but the superior boxing skills allowed him to constantly land clean hard shots and he won rather comfortably with a unanimous decision.

Dustin Ortiz V Alexandre Pantoja RESULT Ortiz via Dec
This fight was a pretty closely contested fight that went to the judges scorecard and there was arguments for either fighter to win. Pantoja won the first round after he'd been taken down he reversed the position and spent the rest of the round in a dominant position with Ortiz locked in a body triangle, he looked like he may finish it with a neck crank but Ortiz survived. In the second round it was Ortiz who controlled proceedings with his striking as well as putting Pantoja against the fence and landing knees. He also managed to take him down and finished the round looking most likely to win the fight.

The 3rd and final round is where the fight was to be won or lost and Pantoja seemed to be getting the better of things. He managed to get Ortiz down and again took his back and had Ortiz under control. With a few minutes left on the clock Ortiz managed to get up and then seemed to regain control of the fight, he didn't land any really big shots but had a clear edge in striking.

It went to the judges scorecard and they awarded it to Ortiz.

Sabah Homasi V Abdul Razak Alhassan Result Alhassan via KO
This was a rematch in which everyone expected a slug-fest and it didn't disappoint. Both guys threw big shots early until Homasi mixed it up nice with kicks and made a successful take down. But after doing little with it they were stood back up and Alhassan was able to land a viscous uppercut which left Homasi out on the canvas. There was no debating this one and Alhassan picked up yet another knockout victory to add to his record.

Kyle Bochniak V Brandon Davis RESULT Bochniak via decision
This was honestly a pretty disappointing fight and it is a bit of a struggle to sum it up as there was little memorable action. From my recollection the first round went Bochniak's way with him landing a couple of take downs. After a second round which I think Davis edged by getting the better of the striking and landing some leg kicks it went down to the final round in which Bochniak was able to edge.

MAIN CARD

Thomas Almeida V Rob Font RESULT Font via KO
Font got off to a real good start in this fight and seemed to get the better of it with his high pressure and close range style. It looked like he even had Almeida hurt but the Brazilian weathered the storm and once things settled he took over and seemed to have superior striking. The second round starts the same with Font landing shots early, while it seems to follow a similar pattern with Almeida recovering Font made sure he didn't let him off the hook again and landed a sweet combination and a head kick. With Almeida on the ground only able to cover up Font relentlessly pounded away until the referee saw enough and called it off.

Gian Villante V Francimar Barroso RESULT Villante via Dec
This fight began with Villante doing what was expected and pressing forward slowly and landing some good strikes. Barroso seemed happy to let him lead and seemed to be looking for an opening to land a counter shot. The second round was a little more contested as both guys threw and landed more freely with Villante seemed to be getting the better of it. It seemed like he was looking for a finish but couldn't get it.

In the third round the pattern of Villante moving forward with Barroso continued however this time he seemed to be landing more of his counter shots on Villante. Villante is known to not have much of a gas tank and maybe that played some part in him taking more shots as the fight progressed but none really effected him and he was able to see the fight out and pick up a split decision victory.

Calvin Kattar V Shane Burgos RESULT Kattar via KO
Both guys seemed to want to strike but it was clear Kattar was the superior of the 2, while Burgos seemed to be looking for a big shot to do some major damage Kattar was more loose and threw combinations and a variety of strikes that stopped Burgos in his tracks when he was trying to set up anything. I felt Kattar got the edge in the first two rounds of the fight with Burgos having a little success later in the second round.

In the 3rd Kattar ultimately proved his striking superiority when he caught Burgos with a hard straight right followed by an uppercut. Burgos was rocked and in serious trouble, he was knocked down but his fighting instincts meant that he got back up but the ref had seen enough and stopped the fight. Burgos protested the stoppage but it was clear he wasn't all there and would only have taken more damage if he was allowed to continue.

Despite backing Burgos I was pleased to see it stopped.

CO-MAIN EVENT LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE

Daniel Cormer V Volkan Oezdemir Result Cormier via KO
On paper it was easy to separate these two fighters ahead of this fight, Daniel Cormier was far superior and had a vast amount of experience at the highest level. But the question was how would Cormier be affected by his previous no contest fight against Jon Jones?

Well it seemed to not have much affect at all, Volkan Oezdemir possesses thunderous power but Cormier was unaffected by any of the shots that Volkan managed to land. About midway into the round Cormier seemed to turn it up and fired back at Volkan who had been pressing the action. Cormier then pressed forward and was successful with a take down and easily controlled him on the floor using his obvious grappling advantage. Had there been more time left Cormier could have finished it right there as he sank in a rear naked choke Volkan was unlikely to escape from only for the bell to save him.

Cormier came out looking confident while Volkan seemed hesitant and again Cormier got a take down and took the fight to the ground. Vokan tried with all his heart but was no match for the Olympic level wrestling, Cormier transitioned into the crucifix position with Volkan laid out on the canvas unable to protect himself as his arms were being locked by Cormier. In this position it was only a matter of time until the ref stepped in and stopped the fight.

MAIN EVENT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT

Stipe Miocic V Francis Ngannou Result Micioc via Dec
It is not very often we see heavyweight fighters seeing fights through to the bell and not many anticipated this one between 2 such big hitters would. But as people always say 'anything can happen in MMA' and that is what we got here.

Myself like many others were in complete awe of Ngannou going into this fight and while admitting he did not possess the skills of his opponent he made up for that with superhuman like power. In round 1 in seemed to go the way I had predicted when Miocic got him down and Ngannou immediately got back to his feet and responding with big punches. He seemed to land the punch everyone thought was coming but while visibly rocked it did not put Miocic out and he continued to engage in grappling and took down Ngannou again. He managed to get back up but less effortlessly than before and even this early in the fight his punching was noticeably slower.

It seems obvious in hindsight but it was definitely something I should have considered but I feel possibly blinded by the sheer brutality of his Overeem knockout I did not think about how the fight would go if Stipe was able to take Ngannou's best shots and still be conscious.

That is what we got to see, after round 1 it was clear Ngannou was out of gas and for the remaining 4 rounds of action Miocic was able to control the fight very comfortably. He got the better of the striking exchanges other than 1 shot that seemed to rock him in the third round and he possessed the cardio to maintain the pace. The majority of the fight saw Miocic in full control grappling taking Ngannou down and holding him against the fence with Ngannou seemingly lacking the energy to even attempt to strike back.

The fourth round Ngannou only managed to muster the energy to throw 3 strikes none of which landed, while Stipe poured on the punishment landing 82 of his 95 strikes and controlling Francis on the ground and against the fence for 4 minutes and 38 seconds of the 5 minute round!

By the final round Ngannou was completely out of gas and Miocic coasted to a clear and dominant victory to become the first heavyweight to defend the title 3 consecutive times putting him up there as the most dominant heavyweight in history.

Final Thoughts

On a personal level it was not the best night with only 1 of my tips being successful but it was a good reminder of why I often like to pick a few underdogs when it comes to MMA betting as quite a few managed to upset the odds here.

Overall though it was a decent night of fights and despite backing Ngannou I am a big fan of Stipe and it is great to see him defend the title. It will be interesting to see what happens next as there is no obvious contender to challenge him as it stands.

I also thought it was interesting to listen to DC's post fight interview, rather than tell his nemesis to get his shit together as he'd done previously he opted to shout out his team mates Khabib and Cain Velasquez backing both of them to follow him in bringing back championship gold to AKA. Cain is one possible contender that could challenge Miocic but has been out of action for such a long time with injuries.