Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou had an amazing fight at UFC 260 in 2021 after a lot of controversies. As we know Ngannou was a different beast in the Octagon of UFC so he knocked out Miocic. He and Ngannou fought twice, once in 2018 and the second time in 2021. So he fully expected they would have a third fight.
Since he had easily outclassed Ngannou in their first bout three years before the second fight, it appeared that the two-time world champion would have another victory too but things happened quite the opposite as Ngannou gained a lot of experience after that. But after that fight soon Ngannou was out of the UFC Octagon.
Stipe Miocic on Francis Ngannou’s Progress
Ngannou fought Ciryl Gane nine months later. In that fight, Ngannou received a knee injury, so he had to take a few months off to get the surgery done. But after that, he left the UFC. PFL brought the Predator to its organization, and he was able to take the PFL to another level. It was Ngannou’s dream to go to Boxing, so he also went to boxing, where he arranged fights against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Stipe Miocic wanted a third fight with Ngannou, even after Ngannou took a deal that allowed him to try boxing and earn a lot of money at the same time. Two boxing fights saw Ngannou come very close to defeating Fury for his first professional boxing victory, further shocking many by putting Fury on the canvas.
But luck was different with Joshua as Ngannou submitted to the earlier knockdowns and in the second round, he was countered by a destructive punch. Stipe Miocic said that he did not watch full fights of Ngannou but surprisingly he is happy to see that Francis Ngannou has gone this far. He felt proud to see that his former opponent has been given a chance to fight two of the top heavyweight Boxers.
Stipe Miocic said this about the Predetor. “I saw clips of it. In the first one, he did well with Fury and unfortunately, the second one didn’t go well with Joshua. But it happens. It’s fighting, anything can happen. “Some people said he won [against Fury]. I didn’t see the whole fight but a lot of people said he won the fight. He put him down. He did a lot of things. Listen, he convinced many people that he could [beat him]. Shows that we can hang.”
Dana White vs Francis Ngannou
In his PFL debut, Ngannou easily defeated Renan Ferreira to make his MMA comeback this past October. He has still not decided what he will do in the future. With choices in both MMA and boxing, Ngannou is free to do as he pleases. It is impossible for him to return to the UFC, though. But after all, Ngannou is happy to be in charge of his destiny and is still in conflict with UFC’s CEO Dana White, as they exchange a lot of controversial stuff on social media.
Stipe Miocic said this about fighting Francis Ngannou. “Listen, I’m OK with letting go. I get it. As much as I would love to fight him, I wish him nothing but the best and it is what it is. We’re 1-1. That’s the way it will be. He got the last one, unfortunately.”
Final Thoughts
The result is that Miocic is unlikely to have the opportunity to resolve their conflict. Despite his earlier desire for a third bout, he has accepted that his rivalry with Ngannou would always finish in a 1-1 draw. The UFC world is expecting Jon Jones to retire right after fighting Stipe Miocic and not fight Tom Aspinall, but on the other side, Stipe Miocic has also talked about retiring. One of the main reasons is his age. He is currently standing at 42, which is the perfect time to retire, which will result in the trilogy of him and Ngannou being a fantasy of MMA Lovers. What are your thoughts about the trilogy of Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou?
