(ESP-ENG) Noche de UFC: Dos campeonatos en juego // UFC Night: Two championships on the line.
Hello friends, good vibes to all.
Last night was held at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California another UFC event, the 270th to be a little more accurate, with a lineup that was not as extensive as in past opportunities but with the two star fights was more than enough. For those who do not know the UFC does an event of this magnitude once a month, that is, the next big night will be in February, on the 12th where the current champion Adesanya will face Whittaker for the second time.
But focusing on tonight the two big fights were for a championship. In the first one we had Mexican Brandon Moreno, flyweight champion against the "god of war" Brazilian Deiveson Figueiredo who was looking to regain the belt. And in the last one of the night is the beast Francis Ngannou, heavyweight champion versus French interim champion Ciryl Gane. I had no doubt that what we would see would be incredible, and friends, it was.
Although it was not the "Main Event" this was undoubtedly the fight of the night, at least in my opinion. Here we could see the third fight between these two fighters being the first a draw, the second a victory for the Mexican to be crowned champion and in this third came the rematch of the Brazilian to, as I said, regain his title, which he did at the end of everything. One of the best hand to hand I've seen and that is something we are used to these two, impressive as from the first round until the last 10 seconds of the fifth the fight did not drop in intensity.
Figueiredo won via unanimous decision, which I didn't see, of course he won the fight but not in that way. The fight was very even but too much I would say to the point that the first and fifth round were for the Brazilian while the second and fourth for the Mexican; the battle of discord is in the third round, it was there where everything was decided. So much so that there were moments in the fight where Moreno had more accurate punches to the head (38-12) but Deiveson had many more kicks (22-11) which made taking a decision a complex task. Too many exchanges, grappling, exchanges of words, provocations, etc., which definitely made for a show worthy of the UFC.
Anyway, it was a fight that I really enjoyed because that's why one is such a fan of the UFC. The great rivalry between these two fighters is undoubtedly another important ingredient to bring the fights to life. And let's not forget that this was the third fight and that the balance is right in the middle so it is not crazy to think that there will be a fourth installment of this fight, which would most likely be in the same Mexico at the express request of the now champion Figueiredo.
We got to the main event where we found a couple of heavyweights with a lot of strength, too much in fact, and we expected a KO or a TKO at any moment but it wasn't like that. I say this because it is very rare that heavyweight fights go to decision, they usually end earlier by a blow that they don't see coming. And this is purely because of their physical characteristics, being so big their training is based on the finishes and not so much on the endurance of the three or five rounds, it depends on which is the case.
It was a "strange" fight as we saw a lot of strength and powerful hands but at the end of the night it was defined by the knockdowns which is very rare in these categories. In fact, Gane in his last 8 fights I believe he had NEVER been with his back on the canvas and Ngannou had NEVER won a fight by decision, so out of the ordinary was what we experienced last night. That fact does not imply that the fight was bad, nothing to do, being something we are not used to it was also very enjoyable.
Why did Ngannou win? - The truth is simple. Because he was much more effective in takedowns, as I consider that it was not the Cameroonian's night in terms of punches. So much so that halfway through the fight Ciryl Gane had an advantage of 61% effectiveness in direct punches against only 32% of the champion. This is a reminder that in the UFC it's not all about strength and striking, you have to be good in all disciplines. Why did Figueiredo win? - Because overall he landed more kicks and Moreno gradually fell behind. You have to be consistent in every round and the Brazilian was consistent in almost every round.
¡Un abrazo a todos, nos leemos en la próxima!
Well friends that's all for today, I hope you liked it and as I told you I'll see you the weekend of February 12 for what will be another evening of high impact.
¡Hugs to all, see you next time!