LAS VEGAS -- The fight to decide who is the baddest man on the planet is now official.
Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou successfully weighed in Friday morning for their UFC heavyweight title fight. Miocic weighed 234 pounds, and Ngannou came in at 263 pounds. Miocic will defend his UFC heavyweight title against Ngannou in the main event of UFC 260 on Saturday at the UFC Apex.
ESPN has Miocic ranked No. 3 in its MMA pound-for-pound rankings. At heavyweight, ESPN has Miocic ranked No. 1 and Ngannou at No. 2.
The two men have met before. Miocic beat Ngannou by unanimous decision to retain the title at UFC 220 on Jan. 20, 2018. Miocic weighed in at 246 pounds for that bout, while Ngannou weighed the same as Friday: 263 pounds.
Miocic (20-3) is considered the best heavyweight champion in UFC history and perhaps the best MMA heavyweight of all time. The Ohio native has the most successful UFC heavyweight title defenses, with four. Miocic, 38, is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Daniel Cormier in a trilogy bout at UFC 242 last August. He owns wins over former UFC heavyweight champs Cormier, Junior dos Santos, Fabricio Werdum and Andrei Arlovski.
Ngannou (11-3) has won four straight, all by first-round KO/TKO. The Cameroon native, who trains out of Las Vegas, is one of the most feared knockout artists in UFC history. Ngannou, 34, has finished those last four fights in 72 seconds or less and has eight first-round finishes in 10 UFC wins.
Both co-main event fighters also weighed in successfully Friday. Former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley came in at 171 pounds and Vicente Luque hit the mark at 170.5. Woodley (19-6-1) is trying to snap a three-fight losing streak, while Luque (19-7-1) has won eight of his last nine.
Fabio Cherant missed weight, hitting the scale at 206.5 pounds for a scheduled light heavyweight bout with Alonzo Menifield. That is a half-pound over the non-title light heavyweight limit. Cherant will forfeit 20% of his purse to Menifield and the fight will go on.