UFC is kicking off 2022 in a big way with UFC 270. The event, which will take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, will feature two championship bouts along with three exciting matchups. The main card of UFC 270 will start at 10 p.m. ET and can be seen on pay-per-view via ESPN+.
The main event of UFC 270 is heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou taking on interim champion Ciryl Gane in a unified championship match. For Ngannou, this is his first match since UFC 260 in March 2021. At the time, he defeated Stipe Miocic to win the heavyweight title. Gane became the interim champion in August when he defeated Derrick Lewis at UFC 265 in August. At the time, Gane was surprised he was awarded the interim title, but Ngannou is confident he will be the undisputed champion when it’s all said and done.
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“I will not be searching for the knockout but I don’t see how we will end this fight without me knocking him out, maybe under two rounds. Because he’s not as tough as Stipe,” Ngannou told TMZ last week, per Sportskeeda. “I know the guy pretty good, you know. He can’t eat as much pressure as Stipe. So as soon as we get like to a close exchange, I don’t think there will be any chance to get out of there.”
Flyweight champion Brandon Moreno will defend his title against Deiveson Figueiredo. Moreno won the title in June, defeating Figueiredo at UFC 263. This will be the third meeting for the two fighters with the first matchup ending in a draw. “I have a fight, somebody’s trying to kill me, and I need to defend my title,” Moreno told MMA Fighting this week. That’s it. That’s the only difference — I’m defending something. But it’s the same thing. I’m going into the octagon with some guy who is trying to beat me, who is trying to take food away from my family.”
The rest of the card features Michel Pereira taking on Andre Fialho in a welterweight match. Cody Stamann will take on Said Nurmagomedov in a bantamweight bout and Trevin Giles will battle Michael Morales in a welterweight contest. The preliminary card can be seen on ESPN2 at 6 p.m. ET.
