Surprised by reaction to Ngannou’s win

[spinup]

Can someone clear me up on the reaction?

I am very neutral and I saw a Francis that has clearly declined. He looked very slow and ploddy in the feet. I wasn’t really impressed by his grappling either, if you’ve seen Renan grapple, you know most jobbers could do that. Took Francis a long time to advance position. Almost got caught in a triangle.

Yet online I see everyone claiming to be impressed or terrified by the performance, and I’m very confused…

I DO NOT see a guy who could challenge Tom Aspinall in any way anymore, Francis did not look the same to me.


Do you guys truly believe you saw the best heavyweight or is it more of a f**k you to Dana or Jon Jones to claim he is?

How many of you truly believe that was a good performance and he could compete with Aspinall?

How many of you would you admit a lot of this is based in emotion?

Purely curious if I live on a different planet or there is more to this?

He took his opponent out in the first round, was never in danger and didn't get touched apart from 2 leg kicks.
I get that it is Ferreira, not really an elite opponent (but not horrible either, like bottom top10 in UFC), but how is that not a good performance?

The leg kicks were good, the TD was good, the grappling did the job, the GnP was not super clean but really vicious.
He waited for Renan to commit to a punch, which is smart, as he has dangerous knees up the middle if you shoot a naked TD.

I actually think Aspinall would have done the exact same thing, it is very similar to what he does ( like the TD over Volkov, and the GnP finish on Blaydes).

 

[World eater]

Can someone clear me up on the reaction?

I am very neutral and I saw a Francis that has clearly declined. He looked very slow and ploddy in the feet. I wasn’t really impressed by his grappling either, if you’ve seen Renan grapple, you know most jobbers could do that. Took Francis a long time to advance position. Almost got caught in a triangle.

Yet online I see everyone claiming to be impressed or terrified by the performance, and I’m very confused…

I DO NOT see a guy who could challenge Tom Aspinall in any way anymore, Francis did not look the same to me.


Do you guys truly believe you saw the best heavyweight or is it more of a f**k you to Dana or Jon Jones to claim he is?

How many of you truly believe that was a good performance and he could compete with Aspinall?

How many of you would you admit a lot of this is based in emotion?

Purely curious if I live on a different planet or there is more to this?

Well, it was basically the exact same fight as Jones - Gane. One fighter exploiting his opponent’s weakness. Jones won by sub after a single TD, Ngannou won by gnp after a single TD. They are either both great performances, or too quick to make a proper assessment performances. Sherdog, as always, turns it into a goat discussion.
It was a good, clean victory. Ngannou was in a bad spot emotionally and under a lot of pressure. He performed great, all things considered. This was a fight he didn’t have the luxury to loose, sometimes the mental aspect of a fight is more important.

 

[bobafett]

10/10 trolling

 

[Ace70 V2]

I expected it. Not in the way it happened, but still. Ferreira doesn't have a lot of experience against top guys and Francis gave him a "welcome to the big leagues" eye opener. At least it came with a million bucks.

 

[Colonel Forbin]

He looked rough

He’s maybe good enough for pfl, but not for long

 

[Goutfather]

Can someone clear me up on the reaction?

I am very neutral and I saw a Francis that has clearly declined. He looked very slow and ploddy in the feet. I wasn’t really impressed by his grappling either, if you’ve seen Renan grapple, you know most jobbers could do that. Took Francis a long time to advance position. Almost got caught in a triangle.

Yet online I see everyone claiming to be impressed or terrified by the performance, and I’m very confused…

I DO NOT see a guy who could challenge Tom Aspinall in any way anymore, Francis did not look the same to me.


Do you guys truly believe you saw the best heavyweight or is it more of a f**k you to Dana or Jon Jones to claim he is?

How many of you truly believe that was a good performance and he could compete with Aspinall?

How many of you would you admit a lot of this is based in emotion?

Purely curious if I live on a different planet or there is more to this?

that was probably the best i’ve seen frank look. it’s the only time i can think of where he wasn’t relying solely on a natural physical advantage. renan really does suck on the ground, but that’s all the more reason for nggano to take him down. as for whether there’s been any physical decline for frank, the fight was too short to gauge. i would guess probably yes, just based on his age.

 

[frontkick1]

He isn't very good though. I was trying to tell everybody who was hyping him up and thought he had a significant chance vs Ngannou. He has recent losses to other fighters who aren't great too.

Ante Delija is a decent HW, but he's a decision merchant who finished Renan in the 1st round.

Klidson Abreu is a 205 pounder who got smoked by a green Jamahal Hill, got fat and then won a comfortable decision against Ferreira.

We aren't talking an early career loss to a can like a lot of fighters have, we are talking multiple, recent losses to middle of the road guys.

Whether he would break into the top 15 at HW in the UFC is irrelevant. After you get past like 6 in the rankings the UFC HW division is laughable.

Difference is the entire division in PFL besides Francis is laughable.

"After you get past like 6 in the rankings the UFC HW division is laughable"
This !!!
Beside aspinall and maybe jones and blaydes i'm not sold on the rest of the division.
You made some good point though. But i still think he has his place in the ufc top 10 HW. I would not sleep either on his size speed power movement coupled with a dangerous striking arsenal. I see him being a problem to some in the ufc top 10...
That's my honest opinion

 

[Schoolboy Q]

Frank handled business but Renan is a complete can lol

 

[TerrorTimmy]

The replies here confirmed that it is in fact based in emotion.

Replies have anger, insults, and some of them smugness.

Very few give a reasoned take or breakdown. Most mention “hating”, personal insults, or whataboutism.

What does Francis represent that you people so emotionally cling to him? Does he represent the fight against the power? Against the greater evils?

Except you're the one ignoring the actual responses just so you don't have to face the reality of being wrong. This is a pathetic attempt at deflection when you've been called out for doing exactly what you're accusing others of doing.

Stay salty my guy

 

[Kevster]

He easily beat a guy I expected him to easily beat, can’t really tell much tbh.

 

[kkthx]

The fight was too short to draw any real conclusions. I agree that he looks slow compared to someone like Aspinall, but in reality, Ngannou looked as good as he needed to in order to secure one or two more boxing paydays. I'm happy for him.

Most people knew Ferreira was a can, but let's not forget that shit can happen, so in that regard... Ngannou passed the fraud check with flying colors. I don't say this lightly, because old Ngannou was some dude who flailed his arms around until one of his hail maries landed. He looks much better now in my opinion, technique wise.

 

[Staph infection]

Franci$ is a counter-culture hero because he, allegedly, made Dana mad. He also made a lot of money by losing two boxing matches, which is apparently worthy of praise and worship from people who don't benefit from said money.

It is all about worshipping false idols and bragging about how big a bag they have or how great their cars and homes are. People will go into to debt to support them even though they don't truly gain anything from it.

 

[spinup]

I agree that he looks slow compared to someone like Aspinall,

Aspinall is kind of an anomaly at HW and I didn't find Ngannou slow at all.
When I compare their striking exchanges with Blaydes, Ngannou did better and got hit way less.
Overall I would say Aspinall has better hand speed, and a bit crisper punches but Ngannou is less hittable, longer and more powerful.

 

[chardog]

he came back from a brutal knockout in his last fight, one that can change his career. On top of that, he hasnt faced many fighters that were bigger than him with more powerful striking, that's on a killer win streak. it was a dangerous matchup, and he did just fine.

 

[burningspear]

i think someone watched the fight in slow motion

 

[jx820]

IDK if I saw the best HW in the world, but I saw one way traffic. I don't think that triangle was particularly close. It seemed to be that Frank was basically in control and working with bad intent the entire time.

After 2 years out of the game he showed off kicks, a takedown and some grappling. He walked away with another 1st round stoppage. IDK if he's as dangerous or physically capable as he was 3 or 4 years ago, but he's still a killer.

 

[markg171]

This ferreira "is not very good" makes no sense, let's not pretend the ufc hw division is something else. I'm pretty sure he has his place in the ufc top 10.

Francis was fighting Ferreira because Ferreira beat a 41 year old Bader earlier this year.

 

[usernamee]

I find it hilarious that sheepdog likes takedowns and wrestling when Ngannou does it. He shot in against a guy he should have stood with and then almost got triangled by a guy who is bad on the ground. They celebrate his win over Gane like it was some savant like performance when it was the worst case of lay and pray I've ever seen (single digit strikes and should have been stood up). What is the hard on for Ngannou guys? Is it his physique or because you all dream of standing up to your boss like he did to Dana.

Suredawger's will like whatever their favourite fighters does and hate whatever [Insert trendy guy to hate on atm] does

 

[markg171]

Let the man come back from time off and death of his son dude..

You do know that fighters fight all the time coming off stuff like this, or other emotional shit, right? And often a lot sooner than the nearly 7 months ago like was the case with Francis?

Paddy found out hours before his weigh in against Leavitt that his friend committed suicide. Didn't say nothing and just continued making weight, then went out and finished Leavitt the next night before finally opening up about what he'd been going through and how "I’d rather have my mate cry on my shoulder than go to his funeral next week"

 

[Lionheart7167]

He looked like Ngannou; A monster who pushes his way in, and asserts his dominance with sheer strength, power and speed. Technically, he's a C level MMA fighter, but that doesn't matter at HW.
I think he stands a slightly lower chance against Tommy as most of Ngannou's other opponents. Tom is hittable. Tom has a major speed advantage though. It would be a fun fight.
Jones is the best at fighting and adjusts for calculated risks. There's no way he would stand with Tom or Francis. He'd take them both down and probably submit them. That said, Ngannou and Tom are both way faster and more powerful than anyone he's fought (including Gane) so it would be a toss up for me