Francis Ngannou makes the first defense of his UFC heavyweight championship on Saturday, facing interim belt holder Ciryl Gane, at UFC 270 in Anaheim, California. That fight is one of two title bouts on the card at Honda Center. In the co-main event, men's flyweight titlist Brandon Moreno faces the man from whom he took the belt, Deiveson Figueiredo. Action begins at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ . Those are followed by more prelims on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m., and the pay-per-view begins at 10 p.m. on ESPN+ PPV. Purchase the PPV here.
Ngannou (16-3) has won five fights in a row, all by knockout. His most recent KO came last March, when he took away the title from Stipe Miocic. Ngannou is tied for fourth in the ESPN pound-for-pound men's rankings.
The undefeated Gane (10-0) has won seven times in the UFC, most recently in August, when he scored a third-round TKO of Derrick Lewis to capture the interim belt. Gane is No. 2 in the ESPN heavyweight rankings, behind Ngannou.
Moreno (19-5-2) is unbeaten in his last seven fight. His last two bouts were against Figueiredo -- a majority draw in December 2020 and a third-round submission win that gave him the 125-pound belt. Moreno is No. 8 in the ESPN pound-for-pound rankings.
Figueiredo (20-2-1), who is ranked No. 2 at flyweight by ESPN, had won five in a row going into the first meeting with Moreno.
How to watch the fights
Watch the PPV and all other fights on ESPN+: Get ESPN+ here.
Watch the prelims on ESPN and ESPN+ and early prelims on ESPN+. Download the ESPN App | WatchESPN | TV schedule
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There's also FightCenter, which offers live updates for every UFC card.
Saturday's fight card
ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET
Heavyweight championship: Francis Ngannou (c) vs. Ciryl Gane (ic)
Men's flyweight championship: Brandon Moreno (c) vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
Welterweight: Michel Pereira vs. Andre Fialho
Men's bantamweight: Cody Stamann vs. Said Nurmagomedov
Welterweight: Trevin Giles vs. Michael Morales
ESPN/ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET
Men's bantamweight: Raoni Barcelos vs. Victor Henry
Welterweight: Jack Della Maddalena vs. Pete Rodriguez
Men's bantamweight: Tony Gravely vs. Saimon Oliveira
Women's flyweight: Kay Hansen vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET
Strawweight: Silvana Gomez Juarez vs. Vanessa Demopoulos
Lightweight: Matt Frevola vs. Genaro Valdez
(c) = defending champion; (ic) = interim champion
Another heavyweight title fight, another dethroning?
Ngannou vs. Gane will be the fifth UFC heavyweight championship fight held in Anaheim, California. Each of the previous four saw the belt change hands.
Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovski (UFC 59 on April 15, 2006): Sylvia knocked out Arlovski in the first round to become UFC champ a little more than a year after Arlovski had beaten him for an interim title. Arlovski would win the belt back less than three months later, and when they met for a fourth time in 2012, the bout was declared a no contest because of an illegal soccer kick by Arlovski.
Cain Velasquez vs. Brock Lesnar (UFC 121 on Oct. 23, 2010): Velasquez dethroned Lesnar via first-round knockout in a dominant performance that appeared to signal a long reign as champ. Until ...
Junior Dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez (UFC on Fox 1 on Nov. 21, 2011): Dos Santos ended Velasquez' first title defense in barely a minute, landing an overhand right to score a 61-second knockout. But Velasquez would win back the title a year later, then beat JDS again a year after that.
Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier (UFC 241 on Aug. 17, 2019): Thirteen months after losing his title to Cormier, Miocic turned the tables with a fourth-round knockout. When they met a third time one year later, Miocic successfully defended the belt.
Source: ESPN Stats & Information
How the experts see the title fights going
Ngannou vs. Gane
"I think Gane is better in every way shape and form -- but [Ngannou] has got that kiss of death," said James Krause, coach at Glory MMA in Kansas City, Missouri. "I feel like one thing Francis has done a better job of is that he's throwing more non-committal shots now. Coach Eric Nicksick at Xtreme Couture has done a good job with that. He's throwing more jabs. Everything doesn't have to be kill, but when he does connect, you don't know which punch is gonna take your face off."
Moreno vs. Figueiredo
"There are really no more surprises. They've spent a lot of time in the cage together," said Marc Montoya, coach at Factory X in Englewood, Colorado. "The movement, speed, power, grappling, you kind of know at this point. Now it's going to come down to which athlete shows up that day. The path to victory for Moreno is to repeat what he did in their second fight. Continue to use the body lock and have some type of surprise in his wrestling when the body lock doesn't work, because Figueiredo must have worked on that. If he hasn't, that's a total mistake."
For more breakdowns by top MMA coaches, check out the UFC 270 expert picks.
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