UFC 270 Recap: Ngannou and Figueiredo Win Big

Story posted January 27, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Dylan Price

This past weekend saw UFC 270 take place in Anaheim, California. The high was 73 degrees on the day, but inside, as the night wore on the action was hotter.

The card featured some of the most anticipated bouts to begin 2022 and they certainly delivered, so let’s take a closer look at the weekend’s action.

Ngannou Silences Doubters With Style Change

Although regarded by some as one of the most powerful punchers to ever step in the octagon, Francis Ngannou made a style change this weekend in his bout with Ciryl Gane, wrestling Gane and forcing him into uncomfortable situations.

It wasn’t an easy win for the now undisputed heavyweight champion, it was a grind and long bout that ultimately went to the cards. At that point, three judges scored the bout 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46, all in favor of Ngannou. Gane now drops to 10-1 with his first professional loss.

Ngannou now moves to 17-3, and although naturally, the attention would move to his next defense, this weekend was not without controversy for the champion as rumors swirl about a potential UFC departure as a rift with Dana White led White to not even give Ngannou the belt after the bout.

Ngannou’s future though is even more muddied by an injury he suffered before the bout. Ngannou reportedly completely tore his MCL and ruptured his ACL in camp, so bad he nearly pulled out of the championship bout.

With surgery scheduled for March, this will likely be Ngannou’s only bout of 2022, and with rumors swirling of a departure, the free agent in 2023 may have fought for the final time in the UFC.

Figueiredo Reclaims Title

The third bout between the first Mexican-born UFC champion in Brandon Moreno and former champion Deiveson Figueiredo lived up to the hype.

After the first bout ended in a tie, Moreno came up big last time and what could have been the end of the series with a Moreno win, now sees the series potentially extended as the bout went the distance and Figueiredo won the UFC Men’s Flyweight championship back.

The judges scored the bout 48-47, all in favor of Figueiredo. Now, a few days removed from the show-stealing bout, Moreno said to the MMA Junkie, “I want to fight Deiveson, and I want to finish this. I want there to be a clear winner in all of this.”

After the success of the first three bouts if the UFC matchmakers look to book a fourth fight to settle the score they likely won’t hear many complaints.

Elsewhere on the card, Michael Pereira took down Andre Fialho by unanimous decision in Fialho’s UFC debut.

At bantamweight, Said Nurmagomedov (no relation to UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov) defeated Cody Stamman and channeled his inner Khabib by doing it via first-round submission.

Michael Morales also scored a first-round knockout over Trevin Giles to remain undefeated. UFC 271 takes place next on February 12th in Houston, Texas as Israel Adesanya will take on Robert Whittaker for the second time in the headlining bout.

Dylan Price is a first-year majoring in journalism. To contact him, email dvp5625@psu.edu.