Blaydes to get even with Ngannou
By Bonginkosi Nkosi
Curtis Blayde lost to Francis Ngannou in 2016 by way of TKO in the second round after an eye injury forced the ringside physician to end the contest, resulting in the former suffering his first and only defeat.
Since that performance, Blaydes has gone on to win six consecutive fights, but one was unfortunately overturned due to the 27-year-old testing positive for marijuana. If form is any indication, the heavy hitter should avenge his loss to Ngannou when they face off in the Cadillac Arena in Beijing, China for UFC 141 on Saturday 24 November.
Blaydes’ last three victories have come against tough competitors like Alistair Overeem, Mark Hunt and Aleksei Oleinik, so he is a completely different fighter to the one we witnessed in 2016. Against Ngannou he was in control of the fight and was unlucky. His grappling skills are underrated and he delivers some of the most lethal sets of punching combinations, body shots and leg kicks in the business.
As he is five years younger than his opponent, he has advantage of both youth and speed. The good news for his team is that his opponent is in disappointing form. He has lost two consecutive fights, making it the first losing streak of his short 11-fight career. However, all Ngannou’s wins have come by way of knockout or submission, including first-round stoppages of Overeem, Andrei Arlovski, and Anthony Hamilton.
He will need to put up a similar performance to beat Blaydes, but this is highly unlikely and the betting suggests the same.
While Blaydes is a strong favourite at 9-20, Ngannou has been priced up at 16-10, largely because he has failed to impressive in his last two performances.
Failing to steal the heavyweight title from Stipe Miocic at UFC 220 in January 2018 and following that up with an uninspiring unanimous decision loss to Derrick “the black beast” Lewis five months later at UFC 226 in a bout that had absolutely no action.
Take into account the fact Lewis is notoriously known for having stamina issues makes you think that Ngannou will struggle to keep up with Blaydes. You won’t get rich but the right decision is to take the 9-20 on Blaydes.