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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There will be plenty for UFC fans to get excited about over the coming weeks.

UFC enthusiasts will be eagerly anticipating UFC 269 next month where Charles Oliveira will put his lightweight title on the line former interim champion Dustin Poirier.

Speculation has mounted in recent weeks that Poirier may hang up his gloves and retire from the Octagon. However, that appears to be the furthest thought from his mind, and when quizzed whether he would consider walking away, Poirier was unequivocal with his answer.

He said: “Nah man – I’m a fighter. I’m fortunate enough now, with this year that I’ve had that I could walk away.

“It’s a great position to be in, but these guys need ass-whoopings, and I’m the guy to give it to them. And we can’t walk away like that.”

Poirier (28-6) will fancy his chances against Oliveira (31-8), and it will mark his second attempt at an undisputed UFC Championship after he lost via submission against Khabib Nurmagomedov over two years ago.

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UFC 267 is set to take place on October 30^th, 2021, and anticipation is already building for it. When you see the two main events listed, it is easy to see why. Blachowicz vs Teixeira will see both fighters bringing top-level grappling skills to the cage and looks to be a very heated battle. Both fighters are also on winning streaks and will be eager to end the evening as the Light Heavyweight champion.

The co-main event, which all MMA fans are looking forward to, is Petr Yan vs Cory Sandhagen for the interim bantamweight title. This was originally scheduled to be a bout between Yan and champion Aljamain Sterling – a rematch from UFC 259 in March 2021 in which Yan was disqualified for an illegal knee. Sterling had to pull out of the much anticipated rematch due to a lingering injury; however the replacement bout is almost as good, if not better than the original.

It is not all about these two main events though. There are plenty of top fights on the undercard to enjoy. For a lot of the sports followers who like to place bets, these can be better fights to target as they can offer great value odds. It can be worth working out who the favorites are on these undercard bouts, so you can bet from a more informed position. A good tip for determining the best wagers to make at events such as UFC 267, is looking online for the top MMA betting picks. There are some great MMA sports betting sites available that bring together analysis, stats and betting picks all in one handy place.

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