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.
Preamble
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.