There will be a strong African connection on one side of the
Octagon in the UFC
260 main event.
Francis
Ngannou revealed on his YouTube channel that welterweight
champion Kamaru
Usman will be in his corner for the heavyweight championship
rematch against Stipe
Miocic on March 27. Ngannou was born in Cameroon, while Usman
is originally from Nigeria.
“Kamaru Usman is gonna be in my corner for this fight,” Ngannou
said in the video. “So it’s good having him here, helping me out
with the fight. By this time you need everything. Basically, he’s
gonna be in my corner and it’s good for him to train where I am and
to bring his own asset into the game to help because this is a very
decisive moment leading up to the fight. It’s very important to get
with him, he’s gonna be in my corner helping me with my wrestling,
which is great.”
Ngannou lost a five-round decision to Miocic in their first meeting
at UFC 220 in January 2018. In that contest, Miocic landed six
takedowns and gradually wore down his opponent over the course of a
25-minute affair. After a lackluster showing in a subsequent outing
against Derrick
Lewis, Ngannou has regained his mojo, winning four straight
fights in 71 seconds or less.
Usman, meanwhile, is coming off a third-round TKO of Gilbert
Burns in a title defense at UFC 258 on Feb. 13. He will return
to action in a rematch against Jorge
Masvidal at UFC 261 on April 24.
UFC 260 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and airs on
pay-per-view via ESPN+. In the co-main event, Alexander
Volkanovski will defend the featherweight crown against
Brian
Ortega.