I just watched every Francis Ngannou UFC fight over in succession.
So I posted earlier that Rogan said Ngannou's coach said he doesn't really train grappling/wrestling. I caught some flak on that and read some really good points about Ngannou. I wanted to see his development for myself. I decided to watch all of his fights to which I had easy access. Also these are all UFC fights and I am not really worried about his fights prior to the big leagues.
The two most noted objections I have seen to the performance outside of the first round is:
1. He gassed because he was not as patient as normal which caused him to gas.
2. He just needs a little work on his takedown defense and he has submission wins so his ground game isn't that bad.
After watching the fights I believe that these are both untrue. And these are my two points which I will explain.
1. He never really had anyone push him striking until Stipe.
2. He needs a LOT of ground work.
@MovinOn has a great post you need for context as to how Stipe Miocic tested Francis's striking and really tempted him into gassing. VID - Stipe's defense is underrated | TMMAC - The MMA Community Forum
First Fight Ngannou Henrique:
Most of the first round was spent either on the mat or against the cage. Henrique scores a TD early. Tries striking while in guard. Eventually passes to half. They stay on the mat in middle of the ring for over two minutes. Henrique continues trying to strike. Eventually stood up. They clinch. He pins Ngannou against the cage. Ref separates. There was a halfhearted shot that resulted in a clinch against the cage and we go to round.
Henrique stayed mostly outside of striking range but when he would enter Ngannou would throw hard, typically hooks.
Round 2:
Wild striking to open the round. Henrique clinches. Ref separates. Henrique comes in eats a hook. Then blocks two HARD hooks. He is stunned. Eats uppercut. Game over.
Take way: He was out grappled most of the fight. He hits hard. He didn't throw a ton of punches because Henrique generally stayed well outside of striking range. There was no reason for Ngannou to throw a lot. However, when he entered Ngannou threw HARD.
Blaydes vs Ngannou
Round 1
This is the fight typically brought up as defense of his grappling. Blaydes tries to stay long. He looks to use legkick, jab, shoot to take Ngannou down. Blaydes appears noticeably slower. Ngannou tags Blaydes several times with various power punches throughout round 1 after the long jab to enter. Seriously he pretty much entered one or two ways the entire fight. Ngannou figured it out quick.
4:40ish Blaydes shoots and hits high and can't secure legs. Clinch. Ngannou shucks him off.
2:00 Blaydes is still trying to stay long, enter leg kick, jab. Ngannou loads up and drops Blaydes. Blaydes pops up and clinches.
1:15 Blydes shoots again, it isn't pretty, but he still secures the takedown. Ngannou lands sitting against the cage. Blaydes never transfers his weight on top of Ngannou. Ngannou stands up at :35.
Round 2
Ngannou looks more fresh. Blaydes has shot and struck from a distance the whole fight and his eye is swelling. Blaydes keeps shooting but is slow and high, missing.
3:08 Blaydes shoots and hits Ngannou head in his chest but somehow grabs doubles and gets the takedown. He appears to try to go to judo side but again has not put any weight on Ngannou allowing him to easily get up.
Several times on entry Blaydes gets caught with some hard shots. At one point he even seems to want to strike with Ngannou but after taking a couple went back to staying long.
Fight is stopped due to swelling. Ngannou clearly the victor. He didn't throw a ton of shots but when Blaydes entered his range he nailed him. I don't know that he threw anything but hooks, overhands, and uppercuts. I don't recall a single jab.
He got taken down and pinned a few times. Blaydes never really pressured him with anything. I guess he was patient here but Blaydes was staying so long it made being patient easy. His biggest pro in this fight was when Blaydes entered range he nailed him. After watching this fight I am worried for Blaydes against Hunt. His head movement is not good.
Mihajlovic:
FOR ALL THAT IS GOOD WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? He comes out trying to stay long and secure a takedown I suppose. Dances into the cage. BOOM. Over.
Hamilton:
Again it is clear nobody wants to enter range. Stays long. 3:50 gets a TD but is out of control, bounces off. Ngannou gets up, Hamilton grabs his back and pins him to cage. Ngannou grabs his arm wrestles him down and muscles in a kimura.
Now, this is given as an example of him "knowing" the ground game. It is an example that he has trained it at some point. The kimura is typically one of the first arm locks you learn in nogi jiu jitsu. It is gives you a good point of control. I would say he hasn't trained it often based on how he he finished it. He basically just muscled it in. Had he dropped his shoulder and finished it tight he would've broken it.
Muscled In
Technically sound
Arlovski/Overeem:
Both are really KO'd too early to take anything away other than he has a crazy amount of power.
Stipe:
Stipe did not stay long. He stayed in range. Peppering Francis with his typical jab cross combo. This allowed Ngannou opportunity to throw. Through all of Ngannou's fights he rarely throws anything but hooks and uppercuts. High risk but high reward punches. Staying in range Stipe consistently slipped these punches (See thread linked above). This allowed Stipe to secure solid take downs and when he did he made Francis carry his full weight unlike Blaydes. When Stipe was in range Francis did what he did in every previous fight: he swung for the fences. Staying this close Francis had more opportunity to swing than in any other fight and he did. However, Stipe's superior head movement and feet left Francis coming up with air. This combined with Stipe's wrestling exposed a lot.
After re-watching Ngannou's entire UFC career he is amazing. No doubt about that. However, he is still incredibly raw. His striking is built around just hit him as hard as possible. Up until Stipe nobody had really tempted him to be patient. Most everyone stayed well outside of range until setting up a take down. When they would enter to set it up he connected. Maybe Arlovski and Overeem could've shown him to be patient but both fights ended too quickly to know. It will be interesting to watch the rest of his career but he must improve. Right now he is just too raw to have sustained success. That, however, is not uncommon in the HW division and is why with 3 title defense in the UFC Stipe has already broken the record.
So I posted earlier that Rogan said Ngannou's coach said he doesn't really train grappling/wrestling. I caught some flak on that and read some really good points about Ngannou. I wanted to see his development for myself. I decided to watch all of his fights to which I had easy access. Also these are all UFC fights and I am not really worried about his fights prior to the big leagues.
The two most noted objections I have seen to the performance outside of the first round is:
1. He gassed because he was not as patient as normal which caused him to gas.
2. He just needs a little work on his takedown defense and he has submission wins so his ground game isn't that bad.
After watching the fights I believe that these are both untrue. And these are my two points which I will explain.
1. He never really had anyone push him striking until Stipe.
2. He needs a LOT of ground work.
@MovinOn has a great post you need for context as to how Stipe Miocic tested Francis's striking and really tempted him into gassing. VID - Stipe's defense is underrated | TMMAC - The MMA Community ForumFirst Fight Ngannou Henrique:
Most of the first round was spent either on the mat or against the cage. Henrique scores a TD early. Tries striking while in guard. Eventually passes to half. They stay on the mat in middle of the ring for over two minutes. Henrique continues trying to strike. Eventually stood up. They clinch. He pins Ngannou against the cage. Ref separates. There was a halfhearted shot that resulted in a clinch against the cage and we go to round.
Henrique stayed mostly outside of striking range but when he would enter Ngannou would throw hard, typically hooks.
Round 2:
Wild striking to open the round. Henrique clinches. Ref separates. Henrique comes in eats a hook. Then blocks two HARD hooks. He is stunned. Eats uppercut. Game over.
Take way: He was out grappled most of the fight. He hits hard. He didn't throw a ton of punches because Henrique generally stayed well outside of striking range. There was no reason for Ngannou to throw a lot. However, when he entered Ngannou threw HARD.
Blaydes vs Ngannou
Round 1
This is the fight typically brought up as defense of his grappling. Blaydes tries to stay long. He looks to use legkick, jab, shoot to take Ngannou down. Blaydes appears noticeably slower. Ngannou tags Blaydes several times with various power punches throughout round 1 after the long jab to enter. Seriously he pretty much entered one or two ways the entire fight. Ngannou figured it out quick.
4:40ish Blaydes shoots and hits high and can't secure legs. Clinch. Ngannou shucks him off.
2:00 Blaydes is still trying to stay long, enter leg kick, jab. Ngannou loads up and drops Blaydes. Blaydes pops up and clinches.
1:15 Blydes shoots again, it isn't pretty, but he still secures the takedown. Ngannou lands sitting against the cage. Blaydes never transfers his weight on top of Ngannou. Ngannou stands up at :35.
Round 2
Ngannou looks more fresh. Blaydes has shot and struck from a distance the whole fight and his eye is swelling. Blaydes keeps shooting but is slow and high, missing.
3:08 Blaydes shoots and hits Ngannou head in his chest but somehow grabs doubles and gets the takedown. He appears to try to go to judo side but again has not put any weight on Ngannou allowing him to easily get up.
Several times on entry Blaydes gets caught with some hard shots. At one point he even seems to want to strike with Ngannou but after taking a couple went back to staying long.
Fight is stopped due to swelling. Ngannou clearly the victor. He didn't throw a ton of shots but when Blaydes entered his range he nailed him. I don't know that he threw anything but hooks, overhands, and uppercuts. I don't recall a single jab.
He got taken down and pinned a few times. Blaydes never really pressured him with anything. I guess he was patient here but Blaydes was staying so long it made being patient easy. His biggest pro in this fight was when Blaydes entered range he nailed him. After watching this fight I am worried for Blaydes against Hunt. His head movement is not good.
Mihajlovic:
FOR ALL THAT IS GOOD WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? He comes out trying to stay long and secure a takedown I suppose. Dances into the cage. BOOM. Over.
Hamilton:
Again it is clear nobody wants to enter range. Stays long. 3:50 gets a TD but is out of control, bounces off. Ngannou gets up, Hamilton grabs his back and pins him to cage. Ngannou grabs his arm wrestles him down and muscles in a kimura.
Now, this is given as an example of him "knowing" the ground game. It is an example that he has trained it at some point. The kimura is typically one of the first arm locks you learn in nogi jiu jitsu. It is gives you a good point of control. I would say he hasn't trained it often based on how he he finished it. He basically just muscled it in. Had he dropped his shoulder and finished it tight he would've broken it.
Muscled In
Technically sound
Arlovski/Overeem:
Both are really KO'd too early to take anything away other than he has a crazy amount of power.
Stipe:
Stipe did not stay long. He stayed in range. Peppering Francis with his typical jab cross combo. This allowed Ngannou opportunity to throw. Through all of Ngannou's fights he rarely throws anything but hooks and uppercuts. High risk but high reward punches. Staying in range Stipe consistently slipped these punches (See thread linked above). This allowed Stipe to secure solid take downs and when he did he made Francis carry his full weight unlike Blaydes. When Stipe was in range Francis did what he did in every previous fight: he swung for the fences. Staying this close Francis had more opportunity to swing than in any other fight and he did. However, Stipe's superior head movement and feet left Francis coming up with air. This combined with Stipe's wrestling exposed a lot.
After re-watching Ngannou's entire UFC career he is amazing. No doubt about that. However, he is still incredibly raw. His striking is built around just hit him as hard as possible. Up until Stipe nobody had really tempted him to be patient. Most everyone stayed well outside of range until setting up a take down. When they would enter to set it up he connected. Maybe Arlovski and Overeem could've shown him to be patient but both fights ended too quickly to know. It will be interesting to watch the rest of his career but he must improve. Right now he is just too raw to have sustained success. That, however, is not uncommon in the HW division and is why with 3 title defense in the UFC Stipe has already broken the record.
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