UFC 270 was a highly awaited fight card with the third installment of Moreno v Figueiredo and Francis Ngannou finally defending his Heavyweight title against former teammate Ciryl Gane. Both fights were surprising and gave viewers a great night of fights. Being the first Pay-Per-View of the year, it was great to start the year on the right foot with main card fights. It featured former teammates pitted against each other, along with a fighter fighting a former coach through his newest fighter.
The first fight of the main events was Moreno v Figueiredo. The first fight back in December 2020, when the fight ended up going to the judges, finishing as a draw, leading into a second fight. During the second fight, Moreno was just too quick for Figueiredo, putting on a tremendous and dominant show which ended up with Moreno finishing the fight in the middle of the third round with a rear-naked choke. That Moreno win set up the third fight of the trilogy with Figuiredo looking to take his title back. Figuiredo after losing his belt, enlisted the help of Henry Cejudo, a mixed-martial arts coach who actually coached Moreno previously. In an interview with UFC to promote the fight, Figueiredo said that “It’s going to be a pleasure to take of Brandon Moreno’s head and give it to [Henry] Cejudo because he betrayed Cejudo.” As the doors closed for the fight to start, both fighters had something to prove, that Moreno could be capable of defending his belt, and Figueiredo was capable of taking it back from him.
The judges all scored the fight 47-48 in favour of Figueiredo
Through the first 4 rounds of the fight, it looked to be an even match going into the fifth round. Both fighters came out quick and fierce, Moreno looked good in the first few rounds as did Figueiredo, but in the ending moments of the third round, Figueiredo caught Moreno with a nicely timed left hook, dropping him to the canvas with less than 15 seconds to go in the round. He was able to get Moreno into a submission, but could not finish him in time as the bell sounded for the end of the round. Going into the fifth and final round, it was either fighters fight to win. Moreno had landed more shots than Figuiredo, but 3 knockdowns were the reason Figuiredo was able to come away with the belt after the fight went to an unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the fight 48-47 Figuiredo. In his post-fight interview, Figuiredo told Joe Rogan, that he is ready and agreeing to a fourth fight, but in Moreno’s home country of Mexico. This would be the first time that a storyline between two fighters reaches 4 fights, and if neither fighter has a fight between the fourth in the storyline, the two fighters will be the only fighters in UFC history to have fought each other 4 consecutive times, along with being the only fighters in history to fight each other 3 times consecutively.
After that, came the fight of the night. But the fighting didn’t start in the octagon, but during the media day just 24 hours prior to the fight. Ngannou and Gane were previously teammates during a fight camp back in January of 2019, where during a sparring match in training, Ngannou revealed he accidentally knocked out Gane and also told media that the two fighters were never friends. That started a big argument between the two fighters and only made the anticipation and tension grow even higher for this awaited fight. After defeating Derrick Lewis for the Interim Heavyweight championship, Gane was set to fight Ngannou, who is known for his knockout ability while Gane is more known for his technical ability, making fighters frustrated with his flair. Having this fight was a great match up between two fighters at the top of their respective fighting styles.
Francis Ngannou successfully defends his UFC Heavyweight title
“Ladies and Gentlemen. This is the moment you’ve all been waiting for! It’s time!!!” It came time for Bruce Buffer’s signature opening to any main card fight. The doors were shut, and it was two heavyweights pitted against each other, nothing but five 5 minute rounds in the octagon. During the first round, Gane looked to be the more patient one, with being on the outside and letting Ngannou come to him, countering when he needed to, to avoid being set up by that monstrous right hand Ngannou is known for. As the fight progressed, fans saw a side of Francis Ngannou that they never saw before. Before the fight started, fans should have noticed that Ngannou was wearing knee sleeves, something he had never done before this fight. He later revealed that during training, he completely tore his MCL and almost had to pull out of the fight. But fans saw the Ju-Jitsu and grappling side of Francis that he never had to show before. He ended up scoring three takedowns throughout the fight, earning himself a new personal record after beating his previous record of one takedown in a match. Fans expected a big heavy handed brawl between the two fighters, but it ended up being a ground fight, with both fighters slipping out of submissions and narrowly evading punches during the grappling. Just like their co-main event fight, this fight ended up going to the judges. Judges Derek Cleary, and Ron McCarthy both scored the fight 48-47 and Judge Sal D’Amato scoring it 49-46 all in favour of Ngannou, this gave Francis his first title defense since beating Croatian Stipe Miocic by knockout in March 2021.
Israel Adesanya taking on Robert Whittaker for the UFC Middleweight Title
Only time will tell if we will see the fourth installment of Moreno v Figuiredo, and if we will see the former teammates in Ngannou and Gane fight again for the UFC Heavyweight title as both fighters are looked at as two of the best fighters in that weight class. The next UFC Pay-Per-View is set for Febuary 15 as we see the second fight between Israel “The Last Style-bender” Adesyana against Robert “The Reaper” Whittaker for the UFC Middleweight title with Whittaker looking to take his belt back from the man who took it from him.
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