Miocic Shuts Down Franboys — ‘I’m Gonna Win’

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Reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic defeated 265-pound power puncher Francis Ngannou in the UFC 220 pay-per-view (PPV) main event back in early 2018, a lopsided decision win that proved “The Predator” was not quite championship material.

What’s changed since then?

Not much, according to Miocic. Ngannou (15-3) got back to his winning ways and laid waste to a bunch of heavyweight contenders, but without being tested on the ground it’s difficult to know if “The Predator” has fixed the issues that plagued him during their first go-round.

“Ngannou has definitely shown a lot better stuff since the first fight,” Miocic said to ESPN (transcribed by Cole Shelton). “He’s knocking everyone out in the first round. He’s just on a tear. The same thing is gonna happen. Same result. There’s no difference that’s gonna happen. I’m gonna win and dominate.”

Following his victory over Ngannou, the now 20-3 Miocic went on to lose his heavyweight title to Daniel Cormier, but then avenged his loss at UFC 241 before ridding himself of “DC” once and for all at UFC 252. As for “The Predator,” he’s captured four straight, including last May’s destruction of Jairzinho Rozenstruik.

The promotion has yet to decide when or where these two will run it back and considering Miocic competed earlier this month, we may not see them back inside the cage until late December or perhaps first-quarter 2021. That should give this guy plenty of time to bulk up for his heavyweight debut.