Since making his debut inside the Octagon at UFC on Fox: dos Anjos vs. Cerrone 2 where he defeated Luis Henrique via knockout at 2:53 in Round 2, Francis Ngannou has been on a roll with four of his fights ending in a knockout and one in submission giving him a hundred percent finish rate in the UFC and his entire career with none of his fights making it past the second round.
In his most recent fight, he faced former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski at UFC on Fox: Shevchenko vs. Pena where he would make quick work of the former champion with a knockout victory at 1:32 in the first round giving him his biggest win of his career. With an epic performance like that, it was not long after when the UFC and fans all around the world began to notice his talent, thus realizing he had the potential to possibly become the champion someday, but he must find another opponent to prove he has the potential.
Now he is scheduled to face former heavyweight champion and boxing specialist Junior dos Santos at UFC 215 in Alberta, Canada and with this being his biggest fight of his career; fans will wonder if winning this fight will be the final step for Ngannou to receive his long-awaited title shot.
Well, we all know how well-rounded dos Santos is in boxing along with his takedown defense so you can guarantee this fight is going to be a standup fight the whole way through, but Ngannou is very well-rounded in boxing as dos Santos along with being skilled in the art of Savate, which gives him great Muay Thai, kickboxing, and other striking techniques.
By looking more into Ngannou’s striking techniques and power it begins to appear as if he will be taking this fight with ease, but we cannot forget the jiu-jitsu of dos Santos that could very well be what he needs to defeat Ngannou. However, Ngannou knows some jiu-jitsu of his own and holds just as many wins via submission as he does via knockout (six knockout; four submissions) showing he can finish opponents via both forms now improves his chances of taking this fight and finally proving to the UFC and the world he is the next heavyweight champion.
From all Ngannou brings to this fight as well as the athleticism it now looks to be as if this will be his final test before anyone can decide if he will get a title shot in the near future or not and to some degree there are plenty of fans out there hoping he does since it’s about time more deserving contenders get a crack at the belt rather than just the popular fighters like always.
I mean, yeah, Alistair Overeem did just come off a win over former champion Fabricio Werdum so he will be in the running for a second crack against Stipe Miocic for the title and Cain Velasquez has been eagerly planning to make a big return to the octagon, but Overeem has already gotten a shot and Velasquez needs a little more preparation before he gets a crack at the title again.
It now only makes sense that Ngannou gets the next crack if he is successful against dos Santos at UFC 215 and who would not love to see Ngannou and Miocic go at it since they both are heavy hitters and have pretty tough chins, so it would be both interesting and entertaining to see this bout go down.
