Francis Ngannou Gives Bold Prediction for Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic at UFC 295
Lineal UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou picks Stipe Miocic to beat Jon Jones at UFC 295 in November. Ngannou remarked that Miocic "doesn't have the credit he deserves" entering the matchup.
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Speaking to 'Shak MMA' on October 23, Ngannou gave his prediction for the fight:
"[If I had to pick a winner] it would have to be Stipe. Stylistically... Stipe - I fought Stipe twice and I think Stipe doesn't have the credit he deserves. Obviously, I won the second time, still I know that I could have lost that time.
"...I mean he fought [Daniel Cormier] three times and you can see how he fought, yeah --- and also this is a different weight class for Jon Jones. This is heavyweight and I think it's slightly different than light heavyweight."
Ngannou speaks from experience, Miocic derailed his UFC championship dreams in their five-round encounter back in 2018. "The Predator" then suffered his first back-to-back defeat at the hands of Derrick Lewis in one of the worst fights ever. This forced Ngannou to reflect on his approach to fighting:
"I learned that fighting is not just about training, you know?" Ngannou told 'The MMA Hour'. "Training might just be 40% of fighting business, then you have the mental [part] which is very important, and the emotional part which is very important."
After the Lewis loss, Ngannou recouped with four straight knockout victories, accumulating less than half a round in fight time overall. With these wins, Ngannou earned himself another shot against Miocic, and he avenged his defeat flawlessly by knocking out the heavyweight great just moments into round two.
One title defence later, Ngannou departed from the UFC and is now on the cusp of the largest fight of his life with lineal boxing heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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