There’s not just one but two title belts up for grabs at UFC 273, scheduled to be held on April 9 at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. Headlining what promises to be a superb UFC 273 fight card, Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski will mount his third defense of his UFC Featherweight title, taking on Jung ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung.

Since his first bout in the UFC, Australian fight favorite Volkanovski has certainly lived up to his moniker, boasting a great unbeaten record in the biggest MMA promotion of them all. But while the former rugby player will be tipped to win his next bout, The Korean Zombie has also earned his nickname, able to withstand a beating and keep on coming.

The second title bout of the night features unfinished business and a fearsome rivalry, as Aljamain ‘Funk Master’ Sterling embarks upon his first defense of the UFC Bantamweight title. At UFC 259 in March 2021, he became the first competitor in the UFC to win a title via disqualification, when reigning champion was disqualified for an illegal knee.

Given the unfinished business between these two proud fighters, and following several attempts to organize the inevitable rematch last year, Sterling and Yan finally go head-to-head in the octagon at UFC 273. This will be the first UFC Bantamweight title defense for Sterling, while Yan won his last bout against Cory Sandhagen for the interim championship.

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Professional fighters risk everything each time they step into the octagon, but the upcoming fight between Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington could be a career-ender for the former. The welterweights are set to stand toe-to-toe with each other at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, at UFC 272 on March 5, with one MMA expert predicting this could be the end of the road for Masvidal if he does not come away with a victory.

Chael Sonnen, a former professional MMA star who has turned his attention to the world of MMA analysis, claims the upcoming bout has the potential to be a career-ending fight for Masvidal. Sonnen said on his popular YouTube channel, “In all fairness, I’ve really got to show respect to Masvidal because this is a career-ending fight. It is that big of a deal. There will be that much attention, and that much focus, and that much hatred going into this battle that Jorge, who is the second biggest draw in combat right now, who’s coming off of two defeats, if he goes out there and he gets taken down, and he gets mauled for 25 minutes, it is going to take a lot of luster off of the shine that is the No. 2, the sport’s second-biggest draw, the BMF, Jorge Masvidal.” Keep Reading

Always eager to attract the crowds, whether packing arena seats or viewing from home via pay-per-view, the Ultimate Fighting Championship rarely disappoints. Opening the schedule for 2022 will be the UFC 270 event on 22 January, held at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, as the world’s most popular mixed martial arts promotion gets the new year going with a bang.

Not just one but two eagerly anticipated title fights will be headlining UFC 270, accompanied by a fine array of exciting contests on the fight card for this event. Headlining the event is the UFC Heavyweight Championship title unification, as Francis Ngannou takes on the interim champion Ciryl Gane, finally getting to decide which of these two superb fighters will take the belt.

The second and equally deserving of headlines is Brandon Moreno versus Deiveson Deiveson Figueiredo, as the reigning UFC Flyweight champion prepares to be tested by the number one challenger. As the latest contest between the Mexican and the Brazilian, this is a trilogy fight in which both fighters will be looking for a definitive resolution, plus the chance for one of these two rivals to walk away with the title belt, of course.

Francis Ngannou vs. Ciryl Gane

Nobody can forget Ngannou’s murderous left hand at UFC 218 in December 2017, rated by ESPN as their ‘Knockout of the Year’, when he delivered the KO punch in the victory against Alistair Overeem. This would firmly establish the Frenchman as a firm favorite amongst MMA fans, which also set him up for a first career attempt at the title.

The opportunity came quickly at UFC 220 in January 2018, although Ngannou was unable to find any way to beat Stipe Miocic on that occasion, as the American broke the record for most consecutive UFC Heavyweight Championship title defenses. Nevertheless, that loss by unanimous decision spurred Ngannou to improve his overall technique, as he sought another opportunity to top the UFC rankings.

Fearsome punching power and great timing brought added four more KO wins to the impressive resume of Ngannou, before the inevitable rematch against Miocic, which eventually came at UFC 260 in March 2021. This time there would be no stopping the fists of Ngannou, who finished Miocic in just two rounds with a KO punch.

Heavyweight Supremacy is at stake this January!@Francis_Ngannou and @Ciryl_Gane will lock horns for the 𝖀𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖘𝖕𝖚𝖙𝖊𝖉 👑! #UFC270 pic.twitter.com/sfXmIasXDM

— UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) December 23, 2021

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The next big UFC event is just around the corner and will be kicking off the new year in style with a huge main event. UFC 270 will take place on Sunday, January 23rd 2022, at the Honda Center in Anaheim in the United States.

UFC 270 will be headlined by a heavyweight title bout between reigning champ Francis Ngannou vs the undefeated Ciryl Gane. The other big fight of the night to warm fans up will see a flyweight title bout between current champion Brandon Moreno and the challenger Deiveson Figueiredo. Both fights will have fans salivating at the prospect of big titles being put on the line to welcome in the new year with.

However, we’ll be focusing on the first of the two events in this article, the heavyweight clash between the Cameroonian, Francis “The Predator” Ngannou, and his opponent, Frenchman Ciryl “Bon Gamin” Gane. We’re going to preview the fight, talking a little about the statistics coming into it and try to make some predictions about what we think might happen.

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Although the end of 2021 is quickly approaching on the horizon, there is still plenty of time for season’s beatings and with the latest instalment of the UFC’s fight circus coming to Nevada this weekend, more octagon warfare will be on the agenda.

Warfare that will see Charles Oliveira and Dustin Poirier square off in a bid to become the Lightweight champion and with the former currently holding the gold, he will not be in a mood to give it away.

Especially as Oliveira will be undertaking his first defence as king of the Lightweight division and after getting the better of Michael Chandler at UFC 262, he would take possession of the then vacant belt.

Now though, his possession of the belt also means he has a target on his back and with Poirier formerly being anointed as an interim champion within the Lightweight division, he will now look to go one step further.

A step that he has attempted to take before and after being paired against the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242, the outcome was one that saw the fearsome Dagestani earn a submission victory.

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