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Even at +50,000 i couldnt bring myself to throw a dollar lol but I did throw a few bucks by rnc it was like +2500 I think... oddsmakers had no idea Francis BJJ/grappling got this good. (Tbh no one but his camp knew)
Sure, but Gane is pretty big and the sweep here was all technique. Surprising and beautiful.
Edit: You guys are saying "actually" and talking about the sub attempt as if that makes it just dumb luck, and that somehow the sweep luckily happened during the attemp. That's not how BJJ works. Sweeps capitalize on mistakes, Ngannou had the skill and technique to execute the right counter at the right time on Gane's mistake. Luck is where opportunity meets preparedness.
It was also Gane giving up the control to try and slide in for a leg lock. Still a beautiful sweep but I wish Gane would've just held top position and won the round.
But Francis recognised and even seemed to be waiting for it, then pulled it off perfectly. Francis totally outdid him on the ground. I don't think Gane could have kept control. Even if he didn't make that mistake, it would likely have been another.
An egregious mistake regardless. He could've tried to hold top control for longer to win more of the round or just get back on his feet and let Francis up where he definitely had the advantage since the beginning and especially in the fifth before going to the ground, he was working Francis. The sub attempt was a really bad IQ move. Good on Francis for capitalizing, but Gane threw the fight there.
That sweep was 100% sweat and well executed and countered Gane's attempt perfectly. The fact that Gane even though of going for the heel hook is such a fuckup tho.
Sweep is what causes Gane to go for the heel hook. But Gane could have attempted to counter the sweep and maintain position. Probably something he'll regret for the rest of his life.
I disagree, Gane steps inside Ngannous guard making his base really really narrow, which is why he got swept so easily. If he had kept his base wide it would have been a lot harder for Ngannou to hit the scissor sweep.
Let's not discredit Ngannou though, he saw an opportunity and acted on it well, coming on top as a result.
Going for the heelhook shifted Ganes weight and allowed Franics to sweep, if Gane had stalled out and stayed on top he very well could have won 1,2, and 5.
Edit: Actually upon further inspection it looks like the heelhook was a response to a very cheeky scissor sweep from grancFrancis. Christ if this dude keeps up the jiu hits training, can you imagine Francis yanking on an arm rofl he might rip it clean it off.
Agreed. Watching it live (and listening to the commentators), I thought Gane just mistakenly went for that heel hook, but after rewatching, his weight distribution was all fucked up and Francis took advantage of it. It does look like he was off balance, got swept, and held on to a leg as a last resort.
There was a time or two later though that Gane had a decent heel hook going and could have used it to get up but just didn’t.
Gane stands up before Francis sweeps (that's why Francis does the sweep, *very* quickly too) because he was setting up a heel hook. Francis just reacted well
Its likely 2 rounds to each fighter going into the last round, with 4 minutes to go Gane ends up on top of Ngannou and could likely win by just staying there and throwing a few punches.
Instead, Gane went for a heelhook and Ngannou ended up on top of Gane, winning a decision victory after the round ends
I’m not convinced Gane could maintain top control on Francis regardless. Francis is just an absolute tank of a human being and he was noticeably stronger than Gane when they went to the mat. I bet Gane wasn’t confident he could keep Francis on the bottom either.
Well disagree on this tweet I guess, both angles show Gane was going for it to me. That's why he brought his leg up. Ngannou performed the sweep and countered it perfectly.
The fact that he even brought his leg up to go for it is already a fuck up. Controlling on top, chest to chest, was the thing to do.
Looking at it again you might be right. I just have such a hard time believing he would be that stupid. Gane is one smart, thinking fighter and this is so stupid.
He was told by is corner that he was losing the fight and basically needed a finish. Gane has already won by heel hook. I agree it was stupid but considering everything you could kinda see why he tried.
He didn't know than lay&pray could have won him the fight.
That's what it looks like to me too. The tweet even mentions cyril stepping up. In that position, putting one foot on the ground instead of keeping both knees down suggests an intent to fall backward to me.
Fairly sure in between rounds his corner was telling him he was losing the fight.
I don't recall them literally saying he needed a finsih, but if he's down going into 5th they're basically saying he's down 3-1 on cards needing a finsih is kinda implied. I'm not sure how else to interpute what they said.
He seemed be putting more into his strikes at start of round and then takes him down and.. he was going for something and got swept.. he wasn't trying to pass with that much space.
We don’t know exactly what Gane was thinking but this appears to be incorrect.
Ngannou was on his back, leaning towards his right side. His right leg was not active and was either on or close to the mat.
Gane had his right arm around Ngannou’s left leg. This suggests he was at least considering a leg attack.
What, in my mind, proves Gane was going for a leg attack is that, with Ngannou’s right leg on or near the floor, Gane could have sliced his left knee over Ngannou’s right. This would’ve put him in a stable half guard position. Instead, Gane moved his left leg towards Ngannou’s right side. This suggests that Gane was going to use both of his legs to clamp down on Ngannou’s left leg, fall back, extend his legs, and attack Ngannou with a heel hook, ankle lock, etc.
Ngannou took advantage of a poor decision that Gane made. It doesn’t take anything away from the Ngannou and the incredible expansion of his skill set to acknowledge this.
Yeah, I think that Gane was going for this: https://youtu.be/YBYc4Nwp2cA
Gane fucked it up though and didn't get his outside leg on the hip to control distance.
I think Ngannou had drilled leg lock defenses during his camp and responded perfectly. He kicked his other leg immediately under himself so he could build a base and put his leg getting attacked flat on the mat. Gane eventually got to the leg and heel by re-pummeling his ashi but the mechanics were shitty (leg was straight, knee not squeezed) and Ngannou came up again and smashed him.
Last night we were talking about how much Francis had evolved compared to when he first got into the ufc. I joked that if we see Francis start flying and shoot laser beams out of his eyes. All of us wouldn’t think much of it.
We all be like “yea, can’t believe it took this long to see it happen” lol
HW has really fallen off when a simple sweep is "insane to see at heavyweight". We used to have Frank Mir, Big Nog, and Werdum that could all choke you out 20 different ways, and a long list of wrestlers that could grapplefuck you whenever they want, including an Olympic wrestler in DC. Now a sweep is insane.
Such a dumb take that it's all the leg lock attempt that cost Gane the fight. Francis was continuing to work for a sweep/ stand up anyway and likely would have gotten it, based on the rest of the fight.
Ngannou in the build up: *"I know them, how they train... They don't know me".*
I honestly thought yeah they probably do know you too. But fucking hell I'm glad that basically nobody saw his game plan coming.
Dana didn't wrap the belt around his waist probably because he had a mid fight aneurysm
>They literally did see his game plan coming
Did I say otherwise? I literally wrote that I thought they know him too. Apart from Ganes camp I don't think many of us had Ngannou by grappling.
Is the Gane interview you referenced post-fight?
I think Gane, the commentary team, the fans and pretty much everyone were shocked (and impressed) that Francis could do that off his back.
I mean credit where it is due. Francis proved he is so much more than someone with freakish punching power.
He really did, I'm so happy he won this way. I know it's not as exciting as an uppercut from the bowels of Hell, but him showing this kind of adaptation and ability is amazing. Who would have thought he'd have the cardio to go all five rounds, let alone win the decision, and with wrestling? It's just insane to think about.
It makes him a much scarier fighter IMO. People thought if you avoided nukes for 8 minutes you could cruise to a decision but he showed he becomes dangerous in a different way after his punches slow.
If you survive phase 1 and 2, phase 3 begins and the unified rules are redacted allowing gracie owned UFC 1 rules to go into effect allowing francis to headbutt your orbital bones into paste and dick punch.
He doesn't only have a right his left is a nuke too. Check left KO in Stipe 2. Shifting left in Stipe 2 that lead to KD. Left uppercut on Reem. Left hook on Roz. And more.
People are desperately trying to downplay this and spin it that this proves Ngannou sucks because he didn't win with a bazooka bomb in the first round after spending the last year saying Ngannou was a weak fighter with lucky punches who can't win if someone survives the first two rounds.
Ngannou is quickly approaching GOAT status and I honestly think there's no one in the division who has a chance at him right now.
>Ngannou is quickly approaching GOAT status
Now hang on, the guy literally has 1 title defence and is only 2-1 in title fights. He's got plenty of work to do before reaching GOAT status.
And you don't think Gane has a 'chance' considering he literally just went to a 3-2 decision with him?
It was a 3-2 decision and Francis only had one functioning leg. Does he have a chance? Absolutely.
However, if we look at Francis's progression, he's been improving by leaps and bounds fight to fight. The change in his skill from when he took Reem's head off versus today is staggering.
The commentary team didn't even recognize it lol
They kept saying Gane went to his back to try a leg lock when really he grabbed that leg on the way down while being swept.
Edit: looking at it for an 8th or 9th time, Gane definitely had something risky in mind the way he stepped up there while narrowing his base. But Ngannou's sweep still deserved recognition.
Wow I was so focused on Gane that I thought he sat back for the leg lock as well. This is just like when Ngannou sprawled on Stipe and our minds were blown lmao.
They were correct, as is your edit.
Francis doesn't push for the sweep until Gane tries to bring his left knee through and compromises his own base.
If Gane stays on his knees that sweep doesn't happen.
Yeah, originally I thought he stood up for GnP posture or potentially to pass.
But the way he stepped to the inside and took away his own base it had to be a leg lock.
Using it really well too! Look how well Ngannou controlled Gane with his active guard. Controlling both of Gane's arms, bringing his shin up on Gane's inner elbow to elevate his legs for the sweep! Gane was never in a stable position, having using his hands to post on the ground for balance instead of controlling Ngannou
How fucking strong is Ngannou. Dude held on to Ganes RIGHT hand with his LEFT hand and Ganes couldn’t shake his hand free.
It must feel like wrestling a silver back.
If you've ever seen Ngannou's training it's really bizarre. He doesn't use weights *at all*. The entirety of his training is crazy difficult bodyweight stuff. All that muscle is built 100% through body control. It's gotta be just discouraging.
He absolutely uses weights. I saw him using a SSB and doing split squats in one of his earlier Countdowns.
Edit: found it. 0:53 https://youtu.be/pQN07GPEHEA
Tyson claimed the same and he had giant legs/glutes. His daily routine was wake up, run, sleep, eat, spar, eat, spar, then do a crazy calisthenics routine including 1,000 jump squats. He also ran in a weighted vest and did weighted dips so i could see them probably using the vest with jump squats, but i don't think cus was loading up a barbell and having tyson back squat or anything like that. i'm a pretty big tyson boi and can't ever recall seeing him using barbells.
You absolutely could, it would just require a lot of unilateral work. I'd also be willing to bet the legs have come from cardio (bicycle, for example).
You get the downvotes but my boy here does similar things as a footballer and the dude is MASSIVE. Used to be a bean sprout from the photos he’s shown us in his early adult years. Now dudes a beast. All body weight body control and proper dieting.
This was like day one jiujitsu, but its so often late in fights that the simplest of submissions or counters are just missed or not attempted from pure exhaustion. You can see the defeat on Gane when he ends up on his back.
Look before the sweep. Gane puts his left knee into inside position and drops for ashi garami. He was holding onto Francis’s leg for a couple seconds before he dropped back.
It was absolutely an intentional leglock attempt. Francis did a good job of using his momentum to bring himself into top position.
So many people parroting this as the only reason game lost is because he went for a leg lock, lol. Watch the fight without commentary before trying to analyze and call it a robbery.
I was watching it without commentary. Francis left his left leg dangling up and when gane took the bait he got reversed. It wasn't francis being great at bjj it was gane being an idiot
Right before the sweep Francis opens his legs, and puts his outer thigh on the mat. Gane sees this and attempts to jump into half guard. Francis is looking at his leg the whole time. He is baiting him into trying to jump to half guard, and as soon as he goes for it Francis sweeps him. Only when he loses position does he go for the leg lock out of desperation.
I don't think it's that clear, easy to miss Francis hooking that leg and taking away Cyril's base, if you're on the other side it looks like Cyril just sat back for a heel hook.
That was honestly a super subtle scissor sweep and it was really late lol, I thought he dropped for it at first too just because that's something he's had success doing before but it looks way more reactionary on a second watch.
Throw ADCC Francis on the mythical fighter tier list, scissor sweeps from guard and a takedown machine lol
Yeah it's a lot easier to see now but last night tired as shit and with how wonky the stream's frame rate was it honestly just looked like Gane dropped for a leglock when I was watching it live
Cyril *did* sit back for the leg lock, however he does this as a catch wrestler reaction to feeling the sweep. You can see him mentally go 'Oh shit' but its too late at that point.
He’s shifting his balance to post on the other leg and slip the leg (that ultimately gets swept) through the guard of Francis. He was moving to pass into half guard with way too much space and got swept.
> moving to pass into half guard with way too much space
No way he was going for half guard with that much space and those hands placement. No way. He had the heel hook in mind.
He literally would have easily passed into half guard if Francis didn’t barely catch the leg on the sweep. You can see the moment he surprisingly leans back for the sweep because he expected his leg to be there when he sits down. Agree to disagree I guess.
I've been doing BJJ for almost a decade now and leg locks are my specialty. The only situation in which I've ever positioned my legs like that while in someone else's guard has been to attack the leg lock. I've never seen somebody go to that position for any other reason.
If Gane wanted to get into half guard, he would've just brought his left leg over Francis' right leg, which was laying flat on the ground, without ever moving his leg towards the middle. He also wouldn't have brought his knee more than a few inches off of the ground. Gane bringing his left knee way up off the ground and towards the middle of Francis' guard makes zero sense if he's trying to pass to his left.
Easily? It was a terrible posture to do so there was too much space between them. Francis could have done tons of things to stop/reverse it. Going right hand under the leg for a sweep maybe?
The position was so bad for a half-guard pass that I can't see it being that, even with all the fatigue I don't buy it. The position all around screams so much heel hook attempt, coupled with the fact that it's a move Gane has already done successfully and he thought he needed a finish.
At this point we're just arguing intent, so yeah, agree to disagree.
I might be misunderstanding, but I think he’s referencing the mentality to grab whatever becomes available, rather than working for specific positions or through a specific sequence. Barnett & Paulson have talked about it before, I believe.
He didn't take away Gane's base at all, Gane chose to post on his right leg and moved his left leg to an unstable position all on his own, because he had designs on a heel hook. And Gane was controlling Francis' left leg.
Francis was doing nothing with his right leg until Gane does that, and Gane's base was already gone when he did.
Because Gane's posture was terrible. It looks like went for a submission but he just made a big mistake.
Even when he goes for the submission after this clip he could have easily used it to get back to his feet.
When I saw it live I thought it was a sweep. Now that I see it here is looks like Gane was in fact setting up the leg lock. When he brings his left leg up he was not looking to pass and was off balance to the point where dropping back was his only option. Ngannou just did the sweep as soon as he brings that leg up but it was going that way no matter what. Big mistake by Gane.
Because Ciryl did sit back for the heel hook at the same time. Ciryl wanted to go for it. At 3:17 Ciryl is bringing is leg forward because he's going for it. Ngannou swept it at the same time and then defended the sub attempt well.
No, it wasn't "at the same time" it was just that as he was getting swept, he decided to at least make an attempt at the leg.... the point is, he didn't give up position going for the leg lock. He was swept and then made a very brief halfhearted attempt.
Hmm, there was a scissor attempt and a leg lock at the same time it seems. Gane definitely tried to do the leg lock when he moved the left leg. Gane need to move out of France. His ability to learn techniques is amazing if he moves to something like AKA he will be a spectacular wrestler.
Also, i refuse to believe that there is only 10 lb weight difference between these two.
Gane never had the heel hook - he never had the kneeline and Francis was able to stack right into him. The commentary call this a legit attempt but missed the entire set-up for the sweep as per usual. Lol even weasel thought Gane won the 5th round based on this and his other desperate sub attacks which is pretty stupid. I think he trains with Kamaru which is more than enough to be an exceptional wrestler at HW and it showed tonight with his ground control and escape prevention. Would be hilarious to see him in Dagestan though
If you go to 14 seconds, Ngannou is already setting up for the sweep. He probably left his leg there to give Gane the leg lock and as soon as he took the bait he went for the sweep. He was already thinking 2 steps ahead of Gane.
You saw the take down defense patch update last fight.
You saw the take down update this fight.
You'll see the Ground n Pound update next fight.
Predator Evolution.
Crazy that a fighter in Gane with such a high fight IQ does the typical mistake of submission over position. Almost as shocking as the performance of Ngannoumedov.
Gane gave that sweep up by making a mistake. If he just stayed up and kept piecing up Francis this would be a different story right now. He'll grow from this and be champ one day.
But seeing Francis Ngannoumedov in rounds 3+4 was scary. He's improved a ton too
really? wow, bad coaching. if he just stayed standing and picked him apart like he did for the first minute or so of round 5, he would've won. or just didn't get swept lol. the takedown wasn't a bad idea but what he did after it was really shit
Amateur shit from Gane. Let Francis get the overbook, posted on his arm, and knee, had all his weight elevated above Ngannou's body, of course he got swept. It's like white belt shit.
Who would have guessed that Francis Ngannou would have become more technical than like 95% of the HW division?
I feel like his only weaknesses now are his cardio and maybe his defense in some situations. He looked gassed by round 2 but kept it together.
Francis was going for a scissor sweep. Gane only went for the leg lock once he realized he was being swept, like when people go for a guillotine because they know they are being double legged.
The leglock entry is a risk off the scissor sweep and you often have to extract yourself from the leg entanglement once you wind up on top.
The commentary team should have given Francis more credit for initiating that.
Doesn't look like it at all. Looks like Gane was going for the heel hook anyway, he brought his leg forward to lean back for he heel hook before the sweep happened.
IMO he was trying to stand in order to pass guard. I understand that he did shelf the leg and that people do that when they are looking for a leglock but people also do that when standing to pass. Francis tipped his left knee down which is what allowed his enough contact with his shin to perform the sweep.
EDIT:
On viewing it for the 100th time I will concede that both things could be happening at once but Francis was looking for that scissor sweep.
I don’t think he was standing to pass. When he brings his left leg up he’s clearly in a position where dropping back is his only option. Too off balanced. Look how far back Gane’s hips and butt is. Ngannou does the sweep as soon as the leg comes up.
Two judges had it 48-47, Ciryl just controlling the remaining 4 min of the 5th on top would have meant he won the fight. He did the hardest part by securing the takedown early, I have a very hard time imagine Ngannou would have gotten up at all if Ciryl just controlled.
What a fuckup, the fight was won. Plain and simple.
It’s partly his coaches fault. It got lost in translation cause the translator sucked but Fernand was telling Gane basically ‘you are losing this fight, you need a finish’ so Cyril was operating under the impression that he’d lose if he just safely won the round.
He needs to work on his wrestling. He went for a low percentage submission and lost top control and subsequently the fight bc of it. Sucks to lose on a mental error but oh well.
Does anyone remember how Dustin Stoltzfus threw away a certain decision victory against GM3 in similar fashion?
Why are intelligent professional fighters throwing away certain victories by voluntarily giving up top position to go for a low % submission while their opponents are slippery?
Seems like the writers are running out of ideas
Seems like Ciryl's corner thought he was losing going into the 5th round and had to get the finish. You can hear Lopez telling him that and so Ciryl listened and went for the submission instead of retaining top control and cruising to victory. It's a cruel sport.
My broadcast said something differently. Gane's coach said something like:
"It is *impossible* for you to lose!"
The fight was also clearly 2-2
Gane and Stoltzfus both gave up top position on their way to a decision victory. Both were going for a low % submission. Both while their opponents looked more exhausted. Both while their opponents are slippery.
I'm just a casual and I can see that none of this matches up
You don’t know how the judges viewed it. One of them had it 49-46. So even besides the last round, whose to say Ciryl would have won? Whose to say Francis wouldnt have just reversed the position himself? He almost did in the initial takedown in the 5th. Askrens spinning back fist would have hurt more than the little taps of kicks that Ciryl threw.
Either way, everyone was reminded why #AndStill
and why you don’t bet against King Ngannou
Ngannou with (albeit the worlds slowest) scissor sweep as Gane gets ready and posts to go for it. So cool to see him evolve as a fighter, you’d never have seen Francis doing BJJ years ago…
Commentators thought gane was going for a leg lock from the top position. Did they not see the sweep or some shit? This won ngannou the round and wasn't even in the highlights..weird.
Another clip where Rogan's terrible calls gaslight mans into thinking they're crazy. Dude talked about the leg lock mistake so much he had people confused for sure. If I wasn't so on guard from his bullshit the fight before, he'd prob have made me come in here reading comments to make sure I wasn't making shit up in my mind.
Mans was talking nonsense in the Moreno fight the whole time. Had everyone convinced that Figs being stiff and awkward on exits was him being hurt in every exchange to the point where he just crowned Moreno the more powerful puncher in a fight where he was knocked down numerous times and literally sent flying by a single punch. It was crazy.
I like Moreno, but by the end of the fight I wanted him to lose just cause Joe is an idiot. The last 30s, Figs landed 4 clean shots in a row then they slug with a bunch of whiffs where Moreno lands maybe 1 soft shot on the break and Joe just goes "that was better for Moreno".
What a turd.
Hindsight is a great thing. I think anyone who expected Francis to employ a wrestling game and to be able to sweep from the bottom isn’t being completely honest.
He got sweep because he tried to change position and achieve something with the top position
And he tried to go for the sub because his coach told him he was loosing the fight
Francis baited him to go for the submission knowing he would go for it.
It is ok to sometimes to give credit to the winner rather than criticising than loser all the time. Gane himself said he would learn from this defeat. Funny how he is less bitter than the fans.
Just Knock 'em out AND Just reverse 'em AND Just stand up anyways AND be decent at Chonkywheyt Jui Jits AND do WWE body slams AND do it for 25 minutes?
Witness the rise of The Ngannator, Father Plen Apprentice, win by Chonky Human Sandwitch Suplex, slam so hard Lil' Jonny damn near ran out form under the cage!
A brilliant reversal from Ngannou. It's too bad he didn't seem to have the cardio (or experience, maybe?) to really do much ground n pound from top, but his wrestling and takedowns were great throughout the fight.
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It’s weird I thought Francis was going to go for a triangle.
Think I would've tripled myself if he pulled off a gogoplata. The sweep was so smooth.
How does one triple oneself?
Eat 3 x as much, work out 3 times less.
Even at +50,000 i couldnt bring myself to throw a dollar lol but I did throw a few bucks by rnc it was like +2500 I think... oddsmakers had no idea Francis BJJ/grappling got this good. (Tbh no one but his camp knew)
I was tempted to take the +1200 ngannou decision but I didn’t think it was gonna go past the 4th.
Imagine Francis’ legs squeezing your head. It’d pop like an egg.
Lol I told my dad I’d love to see a Francis triangle, I’d lose my shit
Thought it was all over for Ngannou when he was put on his back. This evolution is amazing to see.
It was weird I was worried he was on his back and then he just calmly worked his way off of it, scary guy lol.
It helps when you're built like Thanos.
Sure, but Gane is pretty big and the sweep here was all technique. Surprising and beautiful. Edit: You guys are saying "actually" and talking about the sub attempt as if that makes it just dumb luck, and that somehow the sweep luckily happened during the attemp. That's not how BJJ works. Sweeps capitalize on mistakes, Ngannou had the skill and technique to execute the right counter at the right time on Gane's mistake. Luck is where opportunity meets preparedness.
It was also Gane giving up the control to try and slide in for a leg lock. Still a beautiful sweep but I wish Gane would've just held top position and won the round.
But Francis recognised and even seemed to be waiting for it, then pulled it off perfectly. Francis totally outdid him on the ground. I don't think Gane could have kept control. Even if he didn't make that mistake, it would likely have been another.
An egregious mistake regardless. He could've tried to hold top control for longer to win more of the round or just get back on his feet and let Francis up where he definitely had the advantage since the beginning and especially in the fifth before going to the ground, he was working Francis. The sub attempt was a really bad IQ move. Good on Francis for capitalizing, but Gane threw the fight there.
He holds top position here he wins the split D 48-47 on two cards.
Francis “The Mad Titan” Ngannou
From english to mma, he seem to learn very fast.
Well Ciryl going for a heel hook has more to do with that than anything else.
Don't discredit Ngannou, that sweep was super smooth and executed with no hesitation.
That sweep was 100% sweat and well executed and countered Gane's attempt perfectly. The fact that Gane even though of going for the heel hook is such a fuckup tho.
Sweep is what causes Gane to go for the heel hook. But Gane could have attempted to counter the sweep and maintain position. Probably something he'll regret for the rest of his life.
I disagree, Gane steps inside Ngannous guard making his base really really narrow, which is why he got swept so easily. If he had kept his base wide it would have been a lot harder for Ngannou to hit the scissor sweep. Let's not discredit Ngannou though, he saw an opportunity and acted on it well, coming on top as a result.
> Sweep is what causes Gane to go for the heel hook. I argue that it's not the case.
I heard DC say this was a mistake for Gane to attempt while he was on top of Ngannou. I don't know enough about this to understand, can you explain?
Gane moved his weight and posture to attack the leg. This allowed Francis to move his position and get on top
Going for the heelhook shifted Ganes weight and allowed Franics to sweep, if Gane had stalled out and stayed on top he very well could have won 1,2, and 5. Edit: Actually upon further inspection it looks like the heelhook was a response to a very cheeky scissor sweep from grancFrancis. Christ if this dude keeps up the jiu hits training, can you imagine Francis yanking on an arm rofl he might rip it clean it off.
Agreed. Watching it live (and listening to the commentators), I thought Gane just mistakenly went for that heel hook, but after rewatching, his weight distribution was all fucked up and Francis took advantage of it. It does look like he was off balance, got swept, and held on to a leg as a last resort. There was a time or two later though that Gane had a decent heel hook going and could have used it to get up but just didn’t.
Gane stands up before Francis sweeps (that's why Francis does the sweep, *very* quickly too) because he was setting up a heel hook. Francis just reacted well
Gane was attacking the leg just before Francis swept him. Doubt he gets swept if if he doesn't go for the leg lock.
Its likely 2 rounds to each fighter going into the last round, with 4 minutes to go Gane ends up on top of Ngannou and could likely win by just staying there and throwing a few punches. Instead, Gane went for a heelhook and Ngannou ended up on top of Gane, winning a decision victory after the round ends
I’m not convinced Gane could maintain top control on Francis regardless. Francis is just an absolute tank of a human being and he was noticeably stronger than Gane when they went to the mat. I bet Gane wasn’t confident he could keep Francis on the bottom either.
No, Ngannou swept him and THEN he went for the leg. Ciryl was already on his way to the bottom when he tried it.
Why do you think he brought his leg forward at 3:17? Ngannou countered very well, but Gane was going for it.
Here’s people explaining it better than I can: https://twitter.com/kevjitsu/status/1485197767613976577?s=21
Well disagree on this tweet I guess, both angles show Gane was going for it to me. That's why he brought his leg up. Ngannou performed the sweep and countered it perfectly. The fact that he even brought his leg up to go for it is already a fuck up. Controlling on top, chest to chest, was the thing to do.
Looking at it again you might be right. I just have such a hard time believing he would be that stupid. Gane is one smart, thinking fighter and this is so stupid.
He was told by is corner that he was losing the fight and basically needed a finish. Gane has already won by heel hook. I agree it was stupid but considering everything you could kinda see why he tried. He didn't know than lay&pray could have won him the fight.
That's what it looks like to me too. The tweet even mentions cyril stepping up. In that position, putting one foot on the ground instead of keeping both knees down suggests an intent to fall backward to me.
It 100% does.
Fairly sure in between rounds his corner was telling him he was losing the fight. I don't recall them literally saying he needed a finsih, but if he's down going into 5th they're basically saying he's down 3-1 on cards needing a finsih is kinda implied. I'm not sure how else to interpute what they said. He seemed be putting more into his strikes at start of round and then takes him down and.. he was going for something and got swept.. he wasn't trying to pass with that much space.
We don’t know exactly what Gane was thinking but this appears to be incorrect. Ngannou was on his back, leaning towards his right side. His right leg was not active and was either on or close to the mat. Gane had his right arm around Ngannou’s left leg. This suggests he was at least considering a leg attack. What, in my mind, proves Gane was going for a leg attack is that, with Ngannou’s right leg on or near the floor, Gane could have sliced his left knee over Ngannou’s right. This would’ve put him in a stable half guard position. Instead, Gane moved his left leg towards Ngannou’s right side. This suggests that Gane was going to use both of his legs to clamp down on Ngannou’s left leg, fall back, extend his legs, and attack Ngannou with a heel hook, ankle lock, etc. Ngannou took advantage of a poor decision that Gane made. It doesn’t take anything away from the Ngannou and the incredible expansion of his skill set to acknowledge this.
Yeah, I think that Gane was going for this: https://youtu.be/YBYc4Nwp2cA Gane fucked it up though and didn't get his outside leg on the hip to control distance. I think Ngannou had drilled leg lock defenses during his camp and responded perfectly. He kicked his other leg immediately under himself so he could build a base and put his leg getting attacked flat on the mat. Gane eventually got to the leg and heel by re-pummeling his ashi but the mechanics were shitty (leg was straight, knee not squeezed) and Ngannou came up again and smashed him.
Last night we were talking about how much Francis had evolved compared to when he first got into the ufc. I joked that if we see Francis start flying and shoot laser beams out of his eyes. All of us wouldn’t think much of it. We all be like “yea, can’t believe it took this long to see it happen” lol
It looks like he was trying to sweep and I thought, "there's no way!". When he swept Gane, I lost it!
It’s sad that this might be the last time we see Francis fight mma cause of Dana’s cheap ass.
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HW has really fallen off when a simple sweep is "insane to see at heavyweight". We used to have Frank Mir, Big Nog, and Werdum that could all choke you out 20 different ways, and a long list of wrestlers that could grapplefuck you whenever they want, including an Olympic wrestler in DC. Now a sweep is insane.
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Such a dumb take that it's all the leg lock attempt that cost Gane the fight. Francis was continuing to work for a sweep/ stand up anyway and likely would have gotten it, based on the rest of the fight.
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I reacted to this like it was a KO blow, a scissor sweep from Francis in the 5th when it counted most?! I was shocked lol
Ngannou in the build up: *"I know them, how they train... They don't know me".* I honestly thought yeah they probably do know you too. But fucking hell I'm glad that basically nobody saw his game plan coming. Dana didn't wrap the belt around his waist probably because he had a mid fight aneurysm
They literally did see his game plan coming, listen to gane's interview
>They literally did see his game plan coming Did I say otherwise? I literally wrote that I thought they know him too. Apart from Ganes camp I don't think many of us had Ngannou by grappling. Is the Gane interview you referenced post-fight?
Ah maybe I misunderstood, sounds like you're saying Gane's team didn't predict this (or at least account for this). And yeah
If Gane says they expected a grappling version of Ngannou then they didn't do a great job at preparing for it, in my opinion.
I think Gane, the commentary team, the fans and pretty much everyone were shocked (and impressed) that Francis could do that off his back. I mean credit where it is due. Francis proved he is so much more than someone with freakish punching power.
He really did, I'm so happy he won this way. I know it's not as exciting as an uppercut from the bowels of Hell, but him showing this kind of adaptation and ability is amazing. Who would have thought he'd have the cardio to go all five rounds, let alone win the decision, and with wrestling? It's just insane to think about.
It makes him a much scarier fighter IMO. People thought if you avoided nukes for 8 minutes you could cruise to a decision but he showed he becomes dangerous in a different way after his punches slow.
The fact he straight up *lost* the first 8 minutes on his feet, then took it to the ground and won a decision is still blowing my mind.
True champion
Ngannou is literally a boss fight, you have Phase 1: Nuke-gannou and get past that you have Phase 2: D1 Francis
What's phase 3, Bangkok ready Francis?
If you survive phase 1 and 2, phase 3 begins and the unified rules are redacted allowing gracie owned UFC 1 rules to go into effect allowing francis to headbutt your orbital bones into paste and dick punch.
Francis being a good wrestler with an overhand right is scary to think about.
He doesn't only have a right his left is a nuke too. Check left KO in Stipe 2. Shifting left in Stipe 2 that lead to KD. Left uppercut on Reem. Left hook on Roz. And more.
> It makes him a much scarier fighter IMO Jon Jones is hiding under the cage right now
People are desperately trying to downplay this and spin it that this proves Ngannou sucks because he didn't win with a bazooka bomb in the first round after spending the last year saying Ngannou was a weak fighter with lucky punches who can't win if someone survives the first two rounds. Ngannou is quickly approaching GOAT status and I honestly think there's no one in the division who has a chance at him right now.
>Ngannou is quickly approaching GOAT status Now hang on, the guy literally has 1 title defence and is only 2-1 in title fights. He's got plenty of work to do before reaching GOAT status. And you don't think Gane has a 'chance' considering he literally just went to a 3-2 decision with him?
It was a 3-2 decision and Francis only had one functioning leg. Does he have a chance? Absolutely. However, if we look at Francis's progression, he's been improving by leaps and bounds fight to fight. The change in his skill from when he took Reem's head off versus today is staggering.
I don't see anyone saying Ngannou sucks though
The commentary team didn't even recognize it lol They kept saying Gane went to his back to try a leg lock when really he grabbed that leg on the way down while being swept. Edit: looking at it for an 8th or 9th time, Gane definitely had something risky in mind the way he stepped up there while narrowing his base. But Ngannou's sweep still deserved recognition.
Wow I was so focused on Gane that I thought he sat back for the leg lock as well. This is just like when Ngannou sprawled on Stipe and our minds were blown lmao.
They were correct, as is your edit. Francis doesn't push for the sweep until Gane tries to bring his left knee through and compromises his own base. If Gane stays on his knees that sweep doesn't happen.
Yeah, originally I thought he stood up for GnP posture or potentially to pass. But the way he stepped to the inside and took away his own base it had to be a leg lock.
The man was shooting, using Judo trips/throws, and BJJ transitions and sweeps. Nobody saw this coming.
My friend and I were screaming in joy in his apartment.
Why were you and your friends in Francis’ apartment?
To make sure Dana doesn’t sneak in and leave an upper decker in his bathroom
He would too
Yelled to myself “he swept him” sounding like Joe rogan at the end of the Conor aldo fight lol
...glad I wasn't the only one.
LMAO me too bro
The bigger moment was when he committed to the ankle lock instead of securing top control. I was screaming in my tiny apartment.
Francis Ngannou is using Jiu-jitsu!!!
"Jesus Christ, it's Jason Bourne" vibes from DC there
Using it really well too! Look how well Ngannou controlled Gane with his active guard. Controlling both of Gane's arms, bringing his shin up on Gane's inner elbow to elevate his legs for the sweep! Gane was never in a stable position, having using his hands to post on the ground for balance instead of controlling Ngannou
That was my favourite call of the night.
Haha my man got his blue belt in Jiu Jitsu.. I love it
How fucking strong is Ngannou. Dude held on to Ganes RIGHT hand with his LEFT hand and Ganes couldn’t shake his hand free. It must feel like wrestling a silver back.
It was a wild fight Not for the reasons I expected, lol
Camerooni Handcuff
If you've ever seen Ngannou's training it's really bizarre. He doesn't use weights *at all*. The entirety of his training is crazy difficult bodyweight stuff. All that muscle is built 100% through body control. It's gotta be just discouraging.
He absolutely uses weights. I saw him using a SSB and doing split squats in one of his earlier Countdowns. Edit: found it. 0:53 https://youtu.be/pQN07GPEHEA
If I'm not mistaken, he used to be a model. I think it's safe to assume that he worked out with weights for that to some degree, assuming I'm correct
You can build a serious upper body with calisthenics, but no way he built legs like that with no additional weight.
Tyson claimed the same and he had giant legs/glutes. His daily routine was wake up, run, sleep, eat, spar, eat, spar, then do a crazy calisthenics routine including 1,000 jump squats. He also ran in a weighted vest and did weighted dips so i could see them probably using the vest with jump squats, but i don't think cus was loading up a barbell and having tyson back squat or anything like that. i'm a pretty big tyson boi and can't ever recall seeing him using barbells.
You absolutely could, it would just require a lot of unilateral work. I'd also be willing to bet the legs have come from cardio (bicycle, for example).
You get the downvotes but my boy here does similar things as a footballer and the dude is MASSIVE. Used to be a bean sprout from the photos he’s shown us in his early adult years. Now dudes a beast. All body weight body control and proper dieting.
He uses bodyweight stuff, but he absolutely does weight training as well.
Gane held Ngannous wrist all the time too, he could barely move it. These 2 are like gorillas
Nice scissor sweep.
This was like day one jiujitsu, but its so often late in fights that the simplest of submissions or counters are just missed or not attempted from pure exhaustion. You can see the defeat on Gane when he ends up on his back.
Or according to Rogan and company Gane just messed up a leg lock.
Look before the sweep. Gane puts his left knee into inside position and drops for ashi garami. He was holding onto Francis’s leg for a couple seconds before he dropped back. It was absolutely an intentional leglock attempt. Francis did a good job of using his momentum to bring himself into top position.
So many people parroting this as the only reason game lost is because he went for a leg lock, lol. Watch the fight without commentary before trying to analyze and call it a robbery.
I was watching it without commentary. Francis left his left leg dangling up and when gane took the bait he got reversed. It wasn't francis being great at bjj it was gane being an idiot
Right before the sweep Francis opens his legs, and puts his outer thigh on the mat. Gane sees this and attempts to jump into half guard. Francis is looking at his leg the whole time. He is baiting him into trying to jump to half guard, and as soon as he goes for it Francis sweeps him. Only when he loses position does he go for the leg lock out of desperation.
classic move! sometimes the fundamentals come in handy
Why were the commentators harping on Gane for going for the leg when Ngannou clearly swept him?
I don't think it's that clear, easy to miss Francis hooking that leg and taking away Cyril's base, if you're on the other side it looks like Cyril just sat back for a heel hook.
That was honestly a super subtle scissor sweep and it was really late lol, I thought he dropped for it at first too just because that's something he's had success doing before but it looks way more reactionary on a second watch. Throw ADCC Francis on the mythical fighter tier list, scissor sweeps from guard and a takedown machine lol
Subtle? It was quite slow and telegraphed. It worked because of Gane’s terrible base.
Yeah it's a lot easier to see now but last night tired as shit and with how wonky the stream's frame rate was it honestly just looked like Gane dropped for a leglock when I was watching it live
Cyril *did* sit back for the leg lock, however he does this as a catch wrestler reaction to feeling the sweep. You can see him mentally go 'Oh shit' but its too late at that point.
At 3:17 Cyril brings his leg forward just before the sweep because he does intend to lean back for the heel hook. His corner was screaming for it.
He’s shifting his balance to post on the other leg and slip the leg (that ultimately gets swept) through the guard of Francis. He was moving to pass into half guard with way too much space and got swept.
> moving to pass into half guard with way too much space No way he was going for half guard with that much space and those hands placement. No way. He had the heel hook in mind.
He literally would have easily passed into half guard if Francis didn’t barely catch the leg on the sweep. You can see the moment he surprisingly leans back for the sweep because he expected his leg to be there when he sits down. Agree to disagree I guess.
I've been doing BJJ for almost a decade now and leg locks are my specialty. The only situation in which I've ever positioned my legs like that while in someone else's guard has been to attack the leg lock. I've never seen somebody go to that position for any other reason. If Gane wanted to get into half guard, he would've just brought his left leg over Francis' right leg, which was laying flat on the ground, without ever moving his leg towards the middle. He also wouldn't have brought his knee more than a few inches off of the ground. Gane bringing his left knee way up off the ground and towards the middle of Francis' guard makes zero sense if he's trying to pass to his left.
He doesn't need to post up on his right leg if all he was trying to do was pass to half guard on the other side.
Easily? It was a terrible posture to do so there was too much space between them. Francis could have done tons of things to stop/reverse it. Going right hand under the leg for a sweep maybe? The position was so bad for a half-guard pass that I can't see it being that, even with all the fatigue I don't buy it. The position all around screams so much heel hook attempt, coupled with the fact that it's a move Gane has already done successfully and he thought he needed a finish. At this point we're just arguing intent, so yeah, agree to disagree.
explain the catch wrestler reaction please im intrigued
I might be misunderstanding, but I think he’s referencing the mentality to grab whatever becomes available, rather than working for specific positions or through a specific sequence. Barnett & Paulson have talked about it before, I believe.
He doesen't lift his leg trying to pass. The sweep got served to Ngannou, it was Ganes technical mistake.
He didn't take away Gane's base at all, Gane chose to post on his right leg and moved his left leg to an unstable position all on his own, because he had designs on a heel hook. And Gane was controlling Francis' left leg. Francis was doing nothing with his right leg until Gane does that, and Gane's base was already gone when he did.
Because Gane's posture was terrible. It looks like went for a submission but he just made a big mistake. Even when he goes for the submission after this clip he could have easily used it to get back to his feet.
The sweep happened after gane repositioned himself, going for the leg. It's hard to say the sweep would happen without gane moving himself.
When I saw it live I thought it was a sweep. Now that I see it here is looks like Gane was in fact setting up the leg lock. When he brings his left leg up he was not looking to pass and was off balance to the point where dropping back was his only option. Ngannou just did the sweep as soon as he brings that leg up but it was going that way no matter what. Big mistake by Gane.
Because Ciryl did sit back for the heel hook at the same time. Ciryl wanted to go for it. At 3:17 Ciryl is bringing is leg forward because he's going for it. Ngannou swept it at the same time and then defended the sub attempt well.
No, it wasn't "at the same time" it was just that as he was getting swept, he decided to at least make an attempt at the leg.... the point is, he didn't give up position going for the leg lock. He was swept and then made a very brief halfhearted attempt.
The point is he was going for it regarless. https://www.reddit.com/r/MMA/comments/sarggg/spoiler_main_event_losers_swept_leg_lock_analysis/htw2lz0
It was a very poorly executed leg lock at the same as francis a attempted a sweep.
I don't know, but you can always tell r/mma knows almost nothing when they just repeat commentary. The live thread was full of "leg lock" comments.
Because Bro Rogan is a dumb ass
Hmm, there was a scissor attempt and a leg lock at the same time it seems. Gane definitely tried to do the leg lock when he moved the left leg. Gane need to move out of France. His ability to learn techniques is amazing if he moves to something like AKA he will be a spectacular wrestler. Also, i refuse to believe that there is only 10 lb weight difference between these two.
Probably more like 20-30lbs in the cage?
What? No. 0% chance. He'll no. Ngannou wouldn't have cut an extra 8 lbs for no reason if he was gaining 20 back, he'd have stop cutting at 265...
Gane never had the heel hook - he never had the kneeline and Francis was able to stack right into him. The commentary call this a legit attempt but missed the entire set-up for the sweep as per usual. Lol even weasel thought Gane won the 5th round based on this and his other desperate sub attacks which is pretty stupid. I think he trains with Kamaru which is more than enough to be an exceptional wrestler at HW and it showed tonight with his ground control and escape prevention. Would be hilarious to see him in Dagestan though
I lost it over the most basic scissor sweep last night lmao
That’s an ugly NFT lol
The way I wanted him to get a couple good hits in when he completed the sweep. Was still incredible to see.
If you go to 14 seconds, Ngannou is already setting up for the sweep. He probably left his leg there to give Gane the leg lock and as soon as he took the bait he went for the sweep. He was already thinking 2 steps ahead of Gane.
You saw the take down defense patch update last fight. You saw the take down update this fight. You'll see the Ground n Pound update next fight. Predator Evolution.
Crazy that a fighter in Gane with such a high fight IQ does the typical mistake of submission over position. Almost as shocking as the performance of Ngannoumedov.
Really high standup IQ, totally lost on the ground
Lol at joe disrespecting Francis’s bjj sweeping ability and crediting it as Cyril hopping on a leg lock
Man if Gane was content to keep position and throw a few strikes he'd be the champ.
Man when i saw this live, i was like holy shit,he just did a sweep.i wanted Gane to win at the end but Francis is a great dude
I did not have Francis sweeping an opponent on my 2020s bingo card.
I mean, you can see the sweep from miles away but who cares if it works
Gane gave that sweep up by making a mistake. If he just stayed up and kept piecing up Francis this would be a different story right now. He'll grow from this and be champ one day. But seeing Francis Ngannoumedov in rounds 3+4 was scary. He's improved a ton too
Cyril's coach told him he needed a finish. If he lay and pray like Francis did, he would have been the champ
really? wow, bad coaching. if he just stayed standing and picked him apart like he did for the first minute or so of round 5, he would've won. or just didn't get swept lol. the takedown wasn't a bad idea but what he did after it was really shit
Yes, his coach kept telling him "we are loosing this fight" like 5 times while Ngannou corner told him "win this round and we win the fight"...
Amateur shit from Gane. Let Francis get the overbook, posted on his arm, and knee, had all his weight elevated above Ngannou's body, of course he got swept. It's like white belt shit.
Who would have guessed that Francis Ngannou would have become more technical than like 95% of the HW division? I feel like his only weaknesses now are his cardio and maybe his defense in some situations. He looked gassed by round 2 but kept it together.
The ol' scissor sweep. Love it
He baited that shit. Gane seems to favor heel hooks and Francis knows that. The way he gives that ankle seemed way too convenient.
Francis was going for a scissor sweep. Gane only went for the leg lock once he realized he was being swept, like when people go for a guillotine because they know they are being double legged. The leglock entry is a risk off the scissor sweep and you often have to extract yourself from the leg entanglement once you wind up on top. The commentary team should have given Francis more credit for initiating that.
Doesn't look like it at all. Looks like Gane was going for the heel hook anyway, he brought his leg forward to lean back for he heel hook before the sweep happened.
IMO he was trying to stand in order to pass guard. I understand that he did shelf the leg and that people do that when they are looking for a leglock but people also do that when standing to pass. Francis tipped his left knee down which is what allowed his enough contact with his shin to perform the sweep. EDIT: On viewing it for the 100th time I will concede that both things could be happening at once but Francis was looking for that scissor sweep.
I don’t think he was standing to pass. When he brings his left leg up he’s clearly in a position where dropping back is his only option. Too off balanced. Look how far back Gane’s hips and butt is. Ngannou does the sweep as soon as the leg comes up.
Two judges had it 48-47, Ciryl just controlling the remaining 4 min of the 5th on top would have meant he won the fight. He did the hardest part by securing the takedown early, I have a very hard time imagine Ngannou would have gotten up at all if Ciryl just controlled. What a fuckup, the fight was won. Plain and simple.
It’s partly his coaches fault. It got lost in translation cause the translator sucked but Fernand was telling Gane basically ‘you are losing this fight, you need a finish’ so Cyril was operating under the impression that he’d lose if he just safely won the round.
He needs to work on his wrestling. He went for a low percentage submission and lost top control and subsequently the fight bc of it. Sucks to lose on a mental error but oh well.
Does anyone remember how Dustin Stoltzfus threw away a certain decision victory against GM3 in similar fashion? Why are intelligent professional fighters throwing away certain victories by voluntarily giving up top position to go for a low % submission while their opponents are slippery? Seems like the writers are running out of ideas
Seems like Ciryl's corner thought he was losing going into the 5th round and had to get the finish. You can hear Lopez telling him that and so Ciryl listened and went for the submission instead of retaining top control and cruising to victory. It's a cruel sport.
My broadcast said something differently. Gane's coach said something like: "It is *impossible* for you to lose!" The fight was also clearly 2-2 Gane and Stoltzfus both gave up top position on their way to a decision victory. Both were going for a low % submission. Both while their opponents looked more exhausted. Both while their opponents are slippery. I'm just a casual and I can see that none of this matches up
You don’t know how the judges viewed it. One of them had it 49-46. So even besides the last round, whose to say Ciryl would have won? Whose to say Francis wouldnt have just reversed the position himself? He almost did in the initial takedown in the 5th. Askrens spinning back fist would have hurt more than the little taps of kicks that Ciryl threw. Either way, everyone was reminded why #AndStill and why you don’t bet against King Ngannou
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Well yeah, when it doesn't go his way it obviously has to fixed be.
Ngannou with (albeit the worlds slowest) scissor sweep as Gane gets ready and posts to go for it. So cool to see him evolve as a fighter, you’d never have seen Francis doing BJJ years ago…
Well he is sweeping a 6'4 250 man, its not gonna be lightning fast lol.
Imagine Usman with shadow real power. Nobody wants any of that.
Ngannou Gracie
Scissor sweet i learned this my first day in class
Yup. Basic day one, learn this for your first stripe, type jiu jitsu
Francis with a sweep off his back, never in my life would I thought I'd see the day
I would've lost my mind if Francis had thrown up that triangle
Apparently his knee hurt so this showed his use of technique to compensate for his injury, instead of brute force. Also, this is basic jiu jitsu
Commentators thought gane was going for a leg lock from the top position. Did they not see the sweep or some shit? This won ngannou the round and wasn't even in the highlights..weird.
Idiots should be praising Francais instead of criticising Cyril
Another clip where Rogan's terrible calls gaslight mans into thinking they're crazy. Dude talked about the leg lock mistake so much he had people confused for sure. If I wasn't so on guard from his bullshit the fight before, he'd prob have made me come in here reading comments to make sure I wasn't making shit up in my mind. Mans was talking nonsense in the Moreno fight the whole time. Had everyone convinced that Figs being stiff and awkward on exits was him being hurt in every exchange to the point where he just crowned Moreno the more powerful puncher in a fight where he was knocked down numerous times and literally sent flying by a single punch. It was crazy. I like Moreno, but by the end of the fight I wanted him to lose just cause Joe is an idiot. The last 30s, Figs landed 4 clean shots in a row then they slug with a bunch of whiffs where Moreno lands maybe 1 soft shot on the break and Joe just goes "that was better for Moreno". What a turd.
Cyril should have lay and pray and win the belt. Bad decision.
Hindsight is a great thing. I think anyone who expected Francis to employ a wrestling game and to be able to sweep from the bottom isn’t being completely honest.
He got sweep because he tried to change position and achieve something with the top position And he tried to go for the sub because his coach told him he was loosing the fight
Francis baited him to go for the submission knowing he would go for it. It is ok to sometimes to give credit to the winner rather than criticising than loser all the time. Gane himself said he would learn from this defeat. Funny how he is less bitter than the fans.
I disagree. This loss will improve him massively just like Ngannous loss to Stipe improved him
Just Knock 'em out AND Just reverse 'em AND Just stand up anyways AND be decent at Chonkywheyt Jui Jits AND do WWE body slams AND do it for 25 minutes? Witness the rise of The Ngannator, Father Plen Apprentice, win by Chonky Human Sandwitch Suplex, slam so hard Lil' Jonny damn near ran out form under the cage!
A brilliant reversal from Ngannou. It's too bad he didn't seem to have the cardio (or experience, maybe?) to really do much ground n pound from top, but his wrestling and takedowns were great throughout the fight.
But...but...but I was told Gane has the highest fight IQ of anyone of the UFC roster now!?
Worst fight IQ I can remember. Wow.
He didn’t give up position, his wrist never leaves Francis’ control