This is the Francis Ngannou vs. Philipe Lins live blog for the main card heavyweight bout at MVP MMA: Rousey vs. Carano on Saturday at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.
This is just Ngannou’s second MMA fight since parting ways with the UFC as the promotion’s heavyweight champion in 2022. Ngannou (18-3) made one appearance for PFL, scoring a fast knockout of Renan Ferreira, but his main focus was booking a pair of high-profile boxing matches against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. He went 0-2 in the boxing ring, losing a controversial split decision to Fury and then being brutally knocked out by Joshua. Now, he looks to remind everyone why he has long been regarded as the No. 1 heavyweight in the world.
Lins (18-5) also fought for the PFL, winning a heavyweight tournament in 2018 before signing with the UFC. After going 0-2 in his first two UFC appearances, Lins dropped down to light heavyweight and put together four consecutive wins. However, he ended up parting ways with the UFC and then became tangled up with the GFL, a sequence of events that has left him on the sidelines since March 2024. He now returns to the heavyweight division with a chance to shake up the rankings.
Check out the MVP MMA: Rousey vs. Carano live blog for Francis Ngannou vs. Philipe Lins below.
Francis Ngannou is back. And he’s in a dream match with fellow PFL star Philipe Lins (I’m reaching).
This probably isn’t the fight fans were looking for when Ngannou decided to come back to MMA, but it’s never a bad time to watch the true heavyweight king in action.
And let’s be honest, a Lins upset would be truly hilarious.
OK, I think the oddsmakers are expecting Ngannou to win: currently -2000 on FanDuel. Yikes.
Referee Herb Dean on hand for the evening’s co-main event.
Opening leg kick by Ngannou. Lins tries to throw one and narrowly avoids to massive Ngannou punches. Lins wisely goes in to grapple. Not much comes of it and they reset. Left hook from Ngannou, Lins felt that, and he’s shooting again. But Ngannou stuffs it and ends up in Lins’ guard. Guard hand-fighting and controlling posture for dear life.
Ngannou staying patient, looking to posture and not give Lins opening to work from the back. Lins eating punches as he gets to his feet. Ngannou is scary as hell. Lins ducks an Ngannou right and goes for another takedown, Ngannou pushes him to the fence without much trouble. He’s sneaking in body shots and Lin can’t be feeling good about that.
Lins manages to turn Ngannou to the fence. He backs off and now Lins is throwing punches. Bad idea. Ngannou lands a counter left and Lins’ legs turn to jelly. Probably should have stuck with the grappling.
Ngannou gives a lot of credit to Lins, saying he was tougher than he thought. He kept composed and waited for his moment. When he heard Lins’ corner say there was one minute left in the opening round, that’s when he knew he had to go.
He responds to the Robelis Despaigne callout, calling his knockout over Junior dos Santos “pretty good.”
“I believe I can handle him… nothing impressive for me, for my style.”
He’s also asked about Jon Jones, posing at the analyst desk.
“Jon Jones is a great fighter, probably the best that has ever done MMA, but I think in terms of business he has something to learn. He should be watching what I’m doing and learn. If he gets it now, he should be able to figure out and come and we make this fight, because this fight can happen before we retire.
He thinks Jones wants the fight, but “he’s caged.”
Asked about Jake Paul (who is standing in the cage next to him), Ngannou says he’s not really the one who runs the business.
“I assume he’s a man now. Last time I saw him he was a boy, maybe he has grown up.”
Paul says he’s Ngannou’s promoter and he’s very impressed with him. “MVP is here to get fighters paid more, to give them another platform that gets more views than the UFC. That’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re creating a new home, this is a moment in history. So maybe me and Francis can box one day, but tonight as a promoter and helping him as a business partner, he came here and I respect him for that and he put on an incredible performance… we’re going to work together and continue to grow MMA and help fighters and on the boxing side, maybe we can fight one day.”
Ngannou is prompted to say he’s the best heavyweight in the world and he says, “I’m the f*cking best. Period.”
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