Since their first encounter, Francis Ngannou has longed for a second shot against Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title. Not only is Ngannourumored to get his wish, but he is also favored in the matchup and is expected to have a huge 2021, ending it as champion.
UFC President Dana White recently spoke with TMZ Sports. During the conversation, he revealed the promotion’s plans for Miocic to take on Ngannou for a second time. However, the fight is not quite ready to be signed on the dotted line.
The First Encounter
Francis Ngannou’s pursuit of the heavyweight title failed to provide the result he wanted. Unfortunately, he suffered a unanimous loss to Stipe Miocic, as he became the first-ever heavyweight to defend his title successfully three times, and broke the division’s record for title defenses.
From the moment that the final bell rang and hands were run, Ngannou was already plotting his rematch. In fact, at the UFC 220’s post-fight press conference, Ngannou said he realized the flaws in his performance after the loss.
2020 only gave us 20 seconds of Ngannou but it was delightfully terrifying. https://t.co/q8IUnr8pcZ
— MS (@UFC_Obsessed) December 23, 2020
Ngannou Champion Odds
However, now Ngannou is favored to beat Stipe in their rematch. At least according to popular sports betting website BetOnline.
Heavyweight Champion at the End of 2021
Francis Ngannou: 3/2
Stipe Miocic: 5/2
Jon Jones: 5/1
Ciryl Gane: 6/1
Curtis Blaydes: 9/1
Jairzhino Rozenstruik: 10/1
Derrick Lewis: 16/1
Allistair Overeem: 20/1
#UFC Heavyweight champ at the end of 2021:
Ngannou +150
Miocic +200
Bones Jones +500
Gane +600
Blaydes +600
Rozenstruik +1000
Lewis +1600
Overeem +2000👉 https://t.co/iPzGpTwhjA pic.twitter.com/E8P4bD7R6S
— BetOnline (@BetOnline_ag) December 30, 2020
Making the Rematch
Although the site didn’t outright say that Francis will beat Stipe, they imply the result by believing that Ngannou will be champion by the end of 2021.
With much improvement and patience from Francis’ game, it’ll be interesting to see his approach to the fight against Stipe in a rematch. Furthermore, it’ll be interesting to see if the betting odds reflect what happens by the end of the year.
