The baddest man in the UFC will be determined on Saturday night at UFC 260 when heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic puts the gold on the line against Francis Ngannou from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nev. Miocic and Ngannou clashed a little more than three years ago at UFC 220 in January 2018 with Miocic dominating from start-to-finish to win a lopsided decision.
Since their initial outing, Miocic has fought three times, winning two of those contests against Daniel Cormier, including winning via unanimous decision at UFC 252. The part-time firefighter from Ohio feels Ngannou has improved and wants to remind people that he hasn't sat around and rested on his laurels.
"It won't be nothing like the first fight because he's definitely gotten better, and so have I," Miocic told MMA Fighting. "A lot of things are going to change. I'm trying to make it a more one-sided fight, and of course, try to end it early, but he's gotten better. The man hits hard, and it's the heavyweight division, so anything can happen.
"He's got a great coach and a great team, and they're definitely working with him, making him better. He's definitely gotten better but so have I. I think whoever implements their game plan the best is going to win. He's definitely gotten better, but he's also got that one factor that everyone thinks he hits hard and he does hit hard. You've just got to watch out for it."
After losing to Miocic, Ngannou lost his next fight in a lackluster outing to Derrick Lewis at UFC 226. From there, Ngannou went on a stunning run. He's won his last four bouts via knockout in a combined time of two minutes and 42 seconds to earn himself another crack at Miocic.
Has Ngannou improved enough to be able to dethrone Miocic? Or does Miocic use his wrestling as he did in the first matchup and avoid the hands of Ngannou to win once again?
Here's everything you need to know about UFC 260: Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou 2.
UFC 260 FIGHT DATE, START TIME
- Date: Saturday, March 27
- Time: 6:15 p.m. ET
- Main event: 12:15 a.m. ET
UFC 260: Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou 2 takes place on Saturday with the early prelims kicking the event off at 6:15 p.m. ET, before the pay-per-view main card begins at 10 p.m. ET. Miocic and Ngannou should enter the Octagon at around 12:15 a.m. ET, depending on the length of the undercard bouts.
UFC 260 TV CHANNEL, LIVE STREAM
- U.S .: ESPN, ESPN+
In the United States, the PPV price for UFC 260 for current ESPN+ subscribers is $69.99. New subscribers have the option of bundling an annual ESPN+ subscription and the fight for $89.98. The first half of the preliminary card can be seen on ESPN+ at 6:15 p.m. ET before switching over to ESPN at 8 p.m. ET.
In Canada, the prelims (6:15 p.m. ET) are on TSN5 and the main card is available on PPV.
In the U.K., UFC 260 can be seen live BT Sport 1 (prelims at 10:15 p.m. GMT and main card at 3 a.m. on Sunday).
In Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain, the UFC 260 main card (4 a.m. CET Sunday) is available on DAZN, the global sports streaming service.
More details about how to watch in other countries can be found at UFC.com.
WHERE IS UFC 260?
The card will be held at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The UFC has held their recent U.S. events at the Apex with no audience due to current COVID-19 protocols. Miocic competes at the venue for the second time while Ngannou has never competed at the facility.
UFC 260 FIGHT ODDS
Bet MGM (as of March 22) has installed Ngannou as the surprising favorite at -135 even though he got outclassed the first time around. Placing a bet on Ngannou means you'd need to bet $135 to win $100. Meanwhile, Miocic is at +110, meaning if you bet $100, you'd net $110.
STIPE MIOCIC RECORD AND BIO
- Nationality: American
- Born: August 19, 1982
- Height: 6-4
- Reach: 80 inches
- Total fights: 23
- Record: 20-3
FRANCIS NGANNOU RECORD AND BIO
- Nationality: Cameroonian
- Born: September 5, 1986
- Height: 6-4
- Reach: 83 inches
- Total fights: 18
- Record: 18-3
UFC 260 FIGHT CARD
Main card
- Stipe Miocic (c) vs. Francis Ngannou for Miocic's Heavyweight title
- Tyron Woodley vs. Vicente Luque; Welterweight
- Sean O'Malley vs. Thomas Almeida; Bantamweight
- Khama Worthy vs. Jamie Mullarkey; Lightweight
Preliminary card
- Alonzo Menifield vs. William Knight; Light Heavyweight
- Jessica Penne vs. Hannah Goldy; Women’s Strawweight
- Abubakar Nurmagomedov vs. Jared Gooden; Welterweight
- Modestas Bukauskas vs. Michał Oleksiejczuk; Light Heavyweight
- Gillian Robertson vs. Miranda Maverick; Women’s Flyweight
- Shane Young vs. Omar Morales; Featherweight
- Marc-André Barriault vs. Abu Azaitar; Middleweight