Anyone still not sold on Francis?

[KjShaolin]

He still swings wide and wild a lot. Won't shock me a bit if Stipe comes up the middle with a straight counter and knocks him the fuck out. I think the guy has the raw talent to go down as one of the best HWs ever, but there are definitely holes in his game.

There are holes in every fighters game!

 

[Cat Biscuits]

He's a great contender, and what the HW division needs. But i'm not sold either as I need to see more of his ground game and cardio. Fighters could possible make him look like an amateur, like Werdum with his BJJ, or Cain with his cardio/wrestling.

Stipe is tough, but I doubt he makes it out of 5 rounds if he only keeps it standing. Someone who doesn't play into Ngannou's strengths could possibly beat him pretty quick.

I'm curious to see how he looks when he's not in his comfort zone.

 

[HelloJapan]

I think anyone with half a brain (granted, that's few on here), would acknowledge he has some serious potential (super strong, huge powerful, learns very fast, etc), but has some untested areas, such as cardio, heart and wrestling/grappling. Enjoy the ride.

 

[Ghostoftheville]

I know I had back and forth with somebody on disqus. He felt Francis hadn't done enough to deserve a title shot and should fight Hunt, Lewis and Cain before a title shot.

 

[turko]

I like Francis but people acts like he is the JDS or Cain from 2011-2014. These guys dominated everybody. Fought in another level. Their skillset was something different. Francis has power yes, but he taken down. He got hit pretty well. Stipe has power as well and he can take him down with brutal g&p. We will see if Francis is on another level when he meet Stipe. Most of his opponents lost the fight before the fight. Knocking out reem and arlovski doesn't make you great in this era.

 

[Oj21]

Not even close to being sold on him. He beat arlovski and overeem. Both have glass chins. Arlovski really is not good at all anymore unfortunately, and overeem literally had the worst game plan he could have come up with for that fight. No technique and just started winging shots. I'll buy into it once he beats stipe, Cain, or werdum

 

[Cela84]

Honestly, he seems like Brett Rogers 2.0. Large heavy puncher with raw power that hasn't been tested and beat the crap out of Arlovski. Really looking forward to the Stipe fight.

 

[moreorless87]

He's a great contender, and what the HW division needs. But i'm not sold either as I need to see more of his ground game and cardio. Fighters could possible make him look like an amateur, like Werdum with his BJJ, or Cain with his cardio/wrestling.

Stipe is tough, but I doubt he makes it out of 5 rounds if he only keeps it standing. Someone who doesn't play into Ngannou's strengths could possibly beat him pretty quick.

I'm curious to see how he looks when he's not in his comfort zone.

I think we've seen enough to know that Ngannou's cardio and ground game aren't awful personally, not that there might not be weaknesses but there doesn't seem to be glaring holes either

He's not fully tested yet I'd agree but really is Stipe either? I would say that the latters title run has been built on targeting very specific glaring weaknesses in opponents games. Have we really seen him produce a slick boxing display, show great cardio, etc? not for me.

It reminds me rather a lot of Cain who Sherdog was calling a brilliant striker based on exploiting JDS's weakness to pressure then suddenly he looked very ordinary walking into Werdums jab a million times.

I suspect that if Stipe wins its simply going to be via poping Ngannou first early in the fight.

 

[Lawblaw]

So if the guy isn´t on Cain, Fedor, Cro Cop and JDS level, you´re not sold on them? So you´re not sold on a lot of HWs, right?

Thats not my point. People are saying this is the best HW fight in recent history. Its not. The fights I mentioned were classic because of the skill level. Francis is a good fighter but he has two good wins.

Look at JDS for instance, he went through that before his second Cain fight
Fabrício Werdum KO (punches)
Stefan Struve TKO (punches)
Mirko Cro Cop Verbal Submission (eye injury)
Gilbert Yvel TKO (punches)
Gabriel Gonzaga KO (punches)
Roy Nelson Decision (unanimous)
Shane Carwin Decision (unanimous)
Cain Velasquez KO (punches)
Frank Mir TKO (punches)

 

[Paynebringer]

When it comes to Ngannou consider me all ↓↓↓

 

[Kung Fu bb]

Thats not my point. People are saying this is the best HW fight in recent history. Its not. The fights I mentioned were classic because of the skill level. Francis is a good fighter but he has two good wins.

Look at JDS for instance, he went through that before his second Cain fight
Fabrício Werdum KO (punches)
Stefan Struve TKO (punches)
Mirko Cro Cop Verbal Submission (eye injury)
Gilbert Yvel TKO (punches)
Gabriel Gonzaga KO (punches)
Roy Nelson Decision (unanimous)
Shane Carwin Decision (unanimous)
Cain Velasquez KO (punches)
Frank Mir TKO (punches)

The title of your thread says "not sold on Francis" . But now all of a sudden you´re talking about "Miocic and Ngannou is not the best HW fight because they´re not on the same level as those classics" ....

You´re mixing things up:
One thing is to say Ngannou is legit or not.
Another different thing is to say "this is the best HW fight in recent history".

These are 2 different discussions.
The 1st one: imo is that Ngannou is legit.
The 2nd one: It´s not the greatest HW fight ever, but it´s pretty good considering the UFC HW division recently.

 

[wildchild88]

I've got some advice for you, rewatch his UFC fights.

He outclassed Blaydes who's BIG too and a promising prospect..

It's man against boys when he's in there.

He has very good instincts, he's a raw fighter, but he seems to do the right things at the right time...

I think he steamrolls Stipe.

This is a Shogun - Jones scenario..