old video: Cro Cop on Miocic vs Ngannou

Kyle Stephens

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I remember the two months before this fight. I was very nervous, but very excited because I could smell the money I could win from this fight. It couldn't have been more perfect. Stipe was an underdog and I really thought he had a significant edge. I had a buddy of mine who was into gambling (and had money), but had no clue of MMA. I was kinda struggling financially at the time. I had no balls to bet the little money that I had, so I was trying hard to convice him to bet huge on Stipe. He was very reluctant. He thought Ngannou will kill him and betting on Stipe is just stupid, even on a plus odds. I was feeling Stipe from the moment Ngannou sent Alistair into orbit. The stars were aligning for Stipe.
1. From interviews and press conferences Ngannou seemed very arrogant, thought this win was in the bag and just have to show up
2. He didn't have much time to prepare, just two months
3. He was just too big, too muscular at the time, couldn't image him having any cardio past the 1st round being that heavy
4. Stipe was agitated that media and Dana White were giving him no chances
5. And the technical sides of the match up
My friend never bet even a cent on Stipe. I also did not. Though, I weren't very mad at myself. After I watched the fight I thought Stipe wasn't going to win unless all the bad circumstances were in place for Ngannou. Francis fought the worst fight in his life (worse than vs Black Beast), and still it took a shit ton of effort from Stipe to win. If there is a rematch I am 70-80% sure that Ngannou is going to win.

So, about the reason I posted this thread. Today I stumbled upon this old video of Mirko where he gives his opinion on this fight. I thought he has very solid points and made me believe even more that Stipe is going to win. The video has only 32 comments, you can easily find mine and see what I thought at the time. Interesting thing, Mirko is with another man in a bed when making this video. :D

"I don't know, it's hard to tell, it's heavyweight division. Attention, concentration, it depends on what kind of biorhythm they will have on fight day. Who will wake up with better feeling, more fresher, better sleep. All that elements can play factor on that. Ngannou really has bomb, that guy is aggressive and strong. His advantage is that he never get KO'ed, that guy has no fear. Second advantage is that he is hungry, he fought for small money... ...To tell you the truth he is a huge guy... He is cutting to get to 120 (265lbs.) and height is 195sm. (6'5). He is powerfull. He is not as technical as Stipe. Stipe has to take this fight to the second or third round, avoid punching exchanges. He has excellent single leg, maybe the best in the division. Catch him for front leg and take him down, exhaust him. And after that all chances go to Stipe."
 
You are quite the random fellow Kyle. Who ya like for this Ngannou fight The Predator or Bigi Boi Rozenstruik?
 
Yeah, people say this about me :D @Sono07 it's hard fight to pick for me at least. Both guys are strikers, heavy hands, strong chins... I think both of them know what the other guy is capable of, so there is real potential for a staring contest. Who the fuck knows who is gonna win if comes to the judges. Neighter guy has a good history when it comes to points.

Edit: Upon some thinking and rewatching the Overeem fight (Rozenstruik) I will have to give the slight advantage to Francis. One reason - to me he seems to have quicker feet of them two. Just more mobile. Plus he has a hair trigger counter game and what throws a wrench in that is a guy who throws a lot of feints and/or bullshit volume, and Roze isn't doing any of this, just too passive and stationary. Bigi Boi's guard is very low and he's getting his chin up every time he's throwing his right. He is not doing exaggerated, big panicky mistakes that other fighters who were knocked out by Francis did, but he is doing things that will open him for some of Ngannou's counters but what is worse is that he is not doing the kind of things that typically trouble Francis.
 
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Yeah, people say this about me :D @Sono07 it's hard fight to pick for me at least. Both guys are strikers, heavy hands, strong chins... I think both of them know what the other guy is capable of, so there is real potential for a staring contest. Who the fuck knows who is gonna win if comes to the judges. Neighter guy has a good history when it comes to points.
Hey a little nonsense now and then is shared by the wisest of men lol. Yeah if it goes to decision idk. Looks like Ngannou's NSC line is the same as his ML at -285ish. Seems like value to me I know it's possible but I don't see Jairzinho KOing him. Looking forward to this week with 3 cards in May.
 
Sounds like Cro Cop was straddling the fence a bit there

Good analysis, but I expected him to throw more support behind Stipe considering he is also Croatian and they know each other
 
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