Francis Ngannou Opens As Favorite Over Stipe Miocic Following UFC 252

As is often the case following a UFC title fight, one of the first questions UFC president Dana White had to field in the aftermath of last night’s UFC 252 was who was next for Stipe Miocic. Miocic successfully defended his UFC heavyweight crown with a unanimous decision win over Daniel Cormier in the headlining contest of UFC 252.

During the 25-minute title fight, both Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones expressed interest in matching up with Miocic. White gave the former title challenger the nod over the current light heavyweight kingpin.

“Francis is definitely next,” White said at the UFC 252 post-fight press conference. “I mean, you can’t jump over Francis. Francis has been out there destroying everybody, and if you look at how long ago it was that he got that title shot (against Miocic), he’s worked his way back. It belongs to Francis Ngannou. But yeah, Jon Jones going to heavyweight is very interesting.”

Miocic and Ngannou fought in January 2018. Miocic won that bout via a lopsided decision. The champion negated Ngannou’s frightening striking by employing a wrestling heavy approach. Miocic went six for 14 in takedowns in that bout and held Ngannou to just 21 landed significant strikes on 113 attempts, which equaled an abysmal 18 percent landing percentage.

Despite that performance, Ngannou has opened as a -210 favorite over the defending champion. Miocic’s odds in the rematch are +180, which are the same odds that their first meeting closed at.

UFC 252 took place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card streamed on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.