Rumored Stipe vs Ngannou 2 in March 2021

[spinup]

Rewatch the fight.
Stipe appears to be a shell of his former self. He got punched multiple times. You can’t make any mistakes with Francis.
Stipe seemed on point when he fought the first time. But I think he’s older , slower and Francis has gotten better, and isn’t as new to MMA as he was then.
He got a reality check losing, and will come back better than ever.
Think Conor Diaz II, except this time a Francis KOs him within 2.
I’d bet heavily on it.

I wouldn't say Stipe is that diminished and you have to consider the wrestling threat by DC to explain the punch he absorbed (you have to compromise your strinking defense against a wrestler). Plus, DC is a fast HW.

But the first fight was very deceiving in giving the impression that there was a gap too big to ever be filled.
I think there is a very thin margin between Stipe putting a clinic like he did and Stipe getting badly finished in any of the first 3 rounds.
And this very thin margin could very well be negated just by Ngannou coming with a good camp, a good state of mind, and a game plan. Not even talking about improved skills.

 

[Hitman]

Very interesting fight ! I hope Miocic chin will be still iron !
Miocic by submission round 4

 

[Hitman]

Stipe has clearly declined. If you watched his last 2 fights against DC his striking Defence was basically non-existent

Is it a joke ? DC is a high level pressure fighter, it is very very hard to had a good defense against DC dirty boxing, especialy at HW !