Francis Ngurmagomedov Uses His Excellent Grappling Background To Defeat Ciryl Gane

Uh, lemme ask ya something - what the fuck did we just watch? 

Francis Ngannou (or should I say Ngurmagomedov?) just wrestled and grappled his way to a decision victory over Ciryl Gane, successfully defending his heavyweight championship for the first time in our UFC 270 main event. I think Francis was +1200 via decision on the Barstool Sportsbook, and even bettors on that probably didn't envision it going down that way. 

Look at this fuckin sweep! I gasped!

I mean, it literally got to the point where I was SCREAMING at Francis Ngannou - who I've never seen wrestle in my life - to shoot for takedowns against Ciryl Gane if he wanted to win the fight. It was a classic "hangs out with Kamaru Usman once" performance.

Ngannou's out-of-character night might've had a little to do with his MCL injury coming into this fight, which led to him wearing knee pads in the octagon (and worrying Francis riders everywhere)....

According to 'The Predator' in his post-fight interview, he completely tore his MCL and partially tore his ACL three weeks ago - and when asked about his potential future in boxing versus the UFC, he didn't really give Joe Rogan a straight answer. Dana didn't put the belt on Francis either, which obviously fuels the rumors of issues between them.

As Ariel Helwani pointed out earlier today, we've kinda got the MMA version of CM Punk leaving with the WWE Championship now, being Francis is a free agent after tonight….

Kinda crazy. Hopefully he figures it out with the UFC and re-signs, because I'm so tired of watching MMA fighters box. 

Plus, as we saw from him tonight, he's got a whole grappling repertoire hidden away in his game! We gotta see more of that!