UFC 270 will be the promotion's first pay-per-view event of 2022. The event will take place on January 22, 2022 (Saturday in the United States), inside the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
The event will be headlined by a heavyweight unification grudge matchup between reigning 265-pound weight class titleholder Francis Ngannou and interim champion Ciryl Gane.
There is history between Ngannou and Gane. The former was trained by coach Fernand Lopez at the MMA Factory gym in Paris, France, until 2018.
'The Predator' currently trains at the Xtreme Couture gym under the experienced Eric Nicksick, while Dewey Cooper serves as his striking coach.
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Frenchman 'Bon Gamin', on the other hand, is being coached by the aforementioned Lopez right now, and trained with Ngannou during his tenure at the gym. The duo were not acknowledged by Ngannou in the corridor of Madison Square Garden at UFC 268 last month, indicating the bad blood surrounding the UFC 270 main event.
Watch Francis Ngannou ignore both Ciryl Gane and Fernand Lopez backstage at UFC 268 below:
Gane defeated Derrick Lewis to claim the interim heavyweight belt in the main event of UFC 265 in August this year. Meanwhile, Ngannou overcame Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 in March to become the first Cameroonian-born UFC champion in history.
Brandon Moreno vs. Deiveson Figueiredo 3 flyweight title fight will be the co-main event of UFC 270
UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno will make his first title defense against former champ Deiveson Figueiredo in a trilogy co-main event at UFC 270.
Moreno and Figueiredo fought to a majority draw the first time around at UFC 256 in December 2020. The bout was recently named the 'Fight of the Year' at the 13th World MMA Awards.
'The Assassin Baby' then won the rematch via third-round submission, using a rear-naked choke at UFC 263 to become the first Mexican-born UFC champion in history. A third outing between the flyweights is likely to put an end to the heated rivalry.
Other bouts on the UFC 270 card include a middleweight title eliminator featuring No.3-ranked contender Jared Cannonier and No.4-ranked Derek Brunson.
A heavyweight clash between Greg Hardy and Alexey Oleynik is scheduled for the event. Also on the card is a women's flyweight contender's fight pitting No.7-ranked Vivianne Araujo vs. No.11-ranked Alexa Grasso as well.