Francis Ngannou and Rico Verhoeven
Francis Ngannou shared snaps of his training with Glory Heavyweight Champion Rico Verhoeven
Francis Ngannou has a mega-fight coming up in January 2022.
The UFC heavyweight champion will take on interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in a bid to become the undisputed heavyweight champion.
Now, it looks like, Ngannou being wary of Gane, has upped his training.
Taking to Instagram, Ngannou shared a snap of himself alongside Glory Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion Rico Verhoeven of the Netherlands.
“Found this guy in Las Vegas and thought it would be fun to train together 😉👊🏿 @ricoverhoeven.”
Training with Verhoeven will certainly hand a new dynamic to Ngannou’s approach, given how technical Gane is with his leg (striking).
Fans are expecting to see another attribute getting enhanced when Ngannou takes centerstage. When he last faced Stipe Miocic at UFC 260, it was Ngannou’s monumentally improved takedown defense that took everyone by surprise.
Ciryl Gane, for his part, has been killing it as well. In a recent video he posted on Instagram, Gane could be seen striking Fitness influencer Tibo InShape (Thibaud Delapart) with vicious power.
Gane captioned the post:
“He took it ALL ! You ate these like a Champ @tiboinshape. Il a tout encaissé comme un Champion. Bravo @tiboinshape !”
Gane last beat Derrick Lewis at UFC 265 to become the interim heavyweight champion.
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