What's Ngannou's strategy gonna be?

[TheMMAnalyst]

to be honest, I also didn't make a bet, so I was not even expecting it myself. Just thought it was a good gameplan and their coach agreed.

I do wonder if he fought like that because he couldn’t move standing - at the post fight press conference he said he was worried if he took a leg kick it would take him out his knee was so unstable.

Looking back he didn’t even wrestle all that much - he caught a kick and turned it into a body slam to actually start the momentum swing. He then did show some wrestling techniques with the double against the cage and the body lock takedown. But even then it being successful was more about Gane having shockingly bad fight IQ going for kimuras and rolling kneebars instead of actually defending takedowns.

Ultimately Ngannou was choosing to stand in the 5th when Gane took him down and could’ve rode out a win but then fell back for a heel hook - with top position, in a tied fight, in a round he was winning knowing he couldn’t get Ngannou off him if he was in bottom position. Beyond shocking.

I really think Gane got shook from that body slam/being stuck on bottom, completely changed his mentality and approach. He just doesn’t have the experience Ngannou has and made some bad mistakes.

I’m really sad we didn’t get the fight we expected - Ngannou without knees is not the same threat, he’s incredibly flat-footed and can’t really blitz you unless you stand still. If Gane just focused on jabbing him up he probably easily wins every round, crazy how using one technique at the wrong moment can swing a fight like that.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Pretty much what I expected from them both. Ganes was going to stay light on the feet until Francis slowed down. Francis wasnt going to chase him down but instead used his ground game

 

[rear naked ankle pick]

He will wrestle Gane to the decision

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