The Stipe Miocic-Francis Ngannou world heavyweight title fight that is the main event of UFC 260 on March 27th is being billed by the promotion as the biggest, baddest rematch.
American champion Miocic of Cleveland, Ohio will defend his belt for the second time against Cameroonian Ngannou. The champion handed Ngannou a one-sided setback the first time they met, yet it’s the challenger who is being listed as the favorite entering the rematch.
There’s a sense that Ngannou (15-3), a powerful striker who’s ended his last four bouts with first-round knockouts, all within a span of 71 seconds or quicker, has learned valuable lessons since the lopsided unanimous decision setback that was dealt him by Miocic in 2018 at UFC 220. However, any student of Miocic’s resume is well aware that it’s not a winning strategy going against him in a rematch.
Miocic (20-3) will be fighting the fourth rematch of his career when he steps into the octagon to face Ngannou at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. In each of three previous return meetings, Miocic has dealt the winning hand and often in a decisive manner.
Stiopic-dos Santos II
In 2014, Brazilian Junior dos Santos, who reigned as UFC heavyweight champion in 2011-12, handed Miocic just the second loss of his career. He defeated the American via a very close unanimous decision. The bout earned fight of the night recognition.
The two would meet for a second time three years later at UFC 211. This time, it was Miocic who was the UFC heavyweight champion. He was making his second title defense.
In early moments of the fight, dos Santos connected with some punishing kicks to the shin, but Miocic seemed unfazed by the Brazilian’s assault. He quickly counter-attacked and gained control of the match.
He found his striking range and landed several telling blows, eventually dropping dos Santos to the canvas. Miocic pounced on his fallen opponent and deployed a ground and pound method to earn a TKO over dos Santos at 2:22 of the second round. The effort earned Miocic the fourth Performance of the Night recognition of his UFC career.
Miocic-Cormier II
Next up after his win over Ngannou, which was his record third heavyweight title defense, Miocic was all set to face Daniel Cormier, at the time the UFC light-heavyweight title belt holder, at UFC 226 in 2018. It ended in shocking fashion when Cormier knocked out the champion just 4:33 into the opening round. That was Miocic’s first setback since dos Santos had beaten him.
The rematch was held as part of the UFC 241 in 2019. Miocic regained his title via knockout at 4:33 of the fourth round. Miocic set up Cormier for the finish by softening him up with several powerful left hooks to the body. He then followed up by delivering a number of punches to the head that put Cormier down for the count.
Miocic-Cormier III
The rubber match, or the trilogy if you will, took place in 2020 at UFC 252 and was Miocic’s most recent fight. It looked like he might finish Cormier off early. Miocic had the challenger in trouble after landing a series of punches late in the second round, but the horn sounded to save Cormier and give him a chance to regroup.
Cormier fought on gamely and made it to the final horn, but there never seemed any doubt as to which way the call of the judges was going to go. Miocic earned a unanimous decision victory.
Miocic-Ngannou II
Ngannou was also favored the first time these two met in the octagon. However, perhaps a victim of overconfidence, Ngannou looked overmatched in the bout.
Ngannou is considered perhaps the hardest hitter in UFC history. Miocic took some of the challenger’s most powerful punches and didn’t go down. He utilized his veteran savvy to take Ngannou to the ground whenever he was threatening to go on the offensive.
Perhaps Ngannou has indeed gone to school since his first taste of facing Miocic. Then again, perhaps the lesson to be learned is that when it comes to facing Miocic a second time, it’s best that you just don’t go there.
