Francis Ngannou Lays Claim to UFC Heavyweight Crown Ahead of UFC 334 Title Fight
As expected, that current state of heavyweight MMA is a hot topic heading into this weekend's UFC 334 card.
Scheduled to take place at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York City, UFC 334 features two title bouts at the top of the bill and will see Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes finally meet in a women's bantamweight superfight in the night's co-main event.
In the card's headlining attraction, two-time interim UFC heavyweight titleholder Ciryl Gane kicks off his reign with the division's undisputed belt when he meets undefeated challenger Josh Hokit.
Heavyweight Division Moves on From Tom Aspinall at UFC 334
As was the case for his predecessor Tom Aspinall, Gane never formally won the undisputed heavyweight belt inside the Octagon.
"Bon Gamin" entered the cage for his third crack at undisputed heavyweight gold last year at UFC 321, where Aspinall was also looking to kick off his title reign after he defended the interim strap once and was promoted to undisputed champion following the retirement of Jon Jones.
The UFC 321 headliner was supposed to see the heavyweight division finally move on from Jones' brief era as champion, but instead the fight ended in disaster when eye pokes from Gane during the fight's opening round left Aspinall unable to continue.
Ciryl Gane Tried to Unify UFC Heavyweight Titles vs. Francis Ngannou
Following surgery on both of his eyes and with a concrete return timeline still unclear, the UFC opted to book an interim heavyweight title bout between Gane and Alex Pereira as the co-main event for UFC Freedom 250 at The White House.
A second-round finish of Pereira saw Gane claim interim heavyweight gold for the second time, and with Aspinall still sidelined the UFC ultimately decided to promote the Frenchman from interim to undisputed heavyweight champion ahead of a meeting with Hokit.
Gane previously won the interim heavyweight belt in 2021 ahead of a title unification bout with Francis Ngannou, who reminded fans this week that he's still technically the lineal UFC heavyweight champion in a reply to an MMA Fighting post.
"The undisputed HW belt is somewhere in my closet [in] cameroon"
Francis Ngannou Left the UFC Following Six-Straight Wins
Beginning with a 45-second knockout of Curtis Blaydes in 2018, Ngannou kicked off a six-fight run of victories to close out his time with the UFC.
"The Predator" unseated Stipe Miocic in their rematch at UFC 260 to finally claim heavyweight gold, and at UFC 270 he put on an unexpectedly grappling-heavy performance to stifle Gane's attempt to unify the heavyweight belts.
That meeting with Gane ended up being Ngannou's last fight in the UFC, and after a pair of boxing matches with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua the 40-year-old extended his overall MMA win streak to eight fights with knockout-wins in the PFL and most recently at the inaugural MVP MMA 1 event in May.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/fannation/mma as Francis Ngannou Lays Claim to UFC Heavyweight Crown Ahead of UFC 334 Title Fight.