The next major MMA event takes place on Saturday night, with UFC 260 live from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
The main event features heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic battling Francis Ngannou.
As always with a UFC event, there are certainly plenty of bets to be made. Let's take a look at some of them.
UFC 260 odds for Miocic vs. Ngannou 2
Stipe Miocic: Evens
Francis Ngannou: 4/5
(All odds via Betfair as of Thursday, Mar. 25)
Betfair has Ngannou installed as a surprising favourite, albeit not by much. Miocic and Ngannou battled at UFC 220 in 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.
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.
Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou 2 prediction
Muehlhausen's pick: Stipe Miocic
Best odds: Miocic by points: 4/1
It's hard to see how the rematch plays out any differently than what everyone saw a little more than three years ago. While it's very impressive seeing and watching Ngannou knock out his foes, we still don't know how his cardio is and if he's improved on grappling as much as he says he has.
Miocic would be crazy to stand and bang with heavy-handed Ngannou for 25 minutes. Look at the first round of their first outing. The fight primarily stayed on the feet, with Ngannou having the edge. For the remainder of the contest, Miocic used his superior grappling and sent Ngannou down to the canvas six times to easily secure the victory.
If Ngannou is going to have a shot, it's imperative he keeps the fight standing. His grappling pales in comparison to Miocic. He needs to have quick hips and feet to keep himself away from Miocic in order to give himself the best opportunity to win. His best chance to become the first African-American-born fighter heavyweight champion is the sledgehammers known as his left and right hands.
All Miocic has to do is be Stipe Miocic. He's got underrated hands. People forget he's a Golden Gloves Boxing Champion and the fact he stopped Daniel Cormier at UFC 242 by blasting him with body shots and then finishing things off upstairs.
But the best recipe for Miocic is to use his wrestling and win that way. Why play with fire when it isn't necessary? Miocic does precisely what he did in January 2018 and he'll win quite handily and remain the UFC heavyweight champion.
More Miocic vs. Ngannou odds
Will the fight go the distance?
- Yes: 3/1
- No: 2/9
Method of victory
- Ngannou by KO/TKO/Technical Decision/DQ: Evens
- Ngannou by points: 14/1
- Ngannou by submission: 33/1
- Tie: 50/1
- Miocic by KO/TKO/Technical Decision/DQ: 21/10
- Miocic by points: 4/1
- Miocic by submission: 20/1