The UFC has historically begun each new year with a crazy fight card to get fans pumped, and that isn’t going to be changing in 2022. Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane will get their chance to unify the UFC heavyweight belt at UFC 270 according to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.
Ngannou won the belt in March of this year when we brutally KO’d Stipe Miocic in their rematch at UFC 260. Since then, the Cameroonian has made it clear that he is ready for his first title defense towards the backend of the year. However, things did not pan out that way.
Towards the end of July, it was announced that Derrick Lewis would meet Ciryl Gane and fight for the interim heavyweight belt at UFC 265. The fight was a shock to the MMA community, with Ngannou himself describing it as a “slap in the face’”. Despite this, the fight went ahead and Gane came out on top, finishing Lewis in the third round.
After the events of UFC 265, it is now being announced by Brett Okamoto that the former training partners, Ngannou and Gane will be given the chance to unify the belts at UFC 270 in January of 2022.
The two fighters began their training at the MMA Factory in France, under the same coach, Fernand Lopez. It has been a few years since the Predator has trained in France but the two will certainly be used to facing off with one another.
If reports are also to be believed, we could also be seeing Israel Adesanya defend his middleweight belt in a rematch against Robert Whittaker. This could be the first time we have seen Adesanya fight on the same card as Ngannou and would make for a spectacular start for the UFC in 2022.
Ben Evans Portfolio 