UFC 220 preview: The brass gambles big on 2 title fights

The UFC might be putting all its eggs in one basket as far as Saturday's main event is concerned, but what a basket it is.

Between his rags-to-riches story and the destruction he's left in his wake over just six Octagon appearances spanning two years, Francis Ngannou's billing as the promotion's next superstar ahead of his first world title bout is of little surprise to anyone privy to his exploits. Just a handful of years after he traded his designs of honing the sweet science for four-ounce gloves, the budding phenom makes a bid for Stipe Miocic's heavyweight crown at UFC 220 at Boston's TD Garden.

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Miocic never worked in a sand quarry or lived on the streets of Paris as his third challenger, nor is he particularly interested in going through anything more than the minimal motions when faced with a microphone, which may have given the brass another excuse to heap the lion's share of the limelight on the 31-year-old Ngannou.

Where the UFC heavyweight king dazzles is within the confines of the Octagon, and not with the shovel hooks and arm-contorting kimuras comprising Ngannou's terrifying highlight reel, but with sound fundamentals and fearsome knockout power. Over a run much akin to his challenger's, Miocic hasn't heard the final bell in over three years and only fought beyond the first round once in his past five - all of which have ended by knockout.

While Ngannou aims to bring his mind-boggling journey to its pinnacle, the defending champ is vying for a cushy place in the history books. No man has successfully retained the divisional strap more than twice, a longstanding curse he'll aim to eradicate - in addition to making the brass rue its often justified, albeit desperate attempt at grooming the challenger into a viable cash cow when it needs one most.

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While Miocic looks to foil the UFC's investment in Ngannou, a jury could spoil its gamble on Volkan Oezdemir.

The 28-year-old literally punched his way into light heavyweight title contention with a pair of sub-60-second KOs of Misha Cirkunov and Jimi Manuwa last year, but justified as his shot at Daniel Cormier's gold in Saturday's co-main event may be, an unforeseen trial - yes, an actual trial - looms large over the marquee matchup.

Call it a product of a long barren division if you will, but Oezdemir was booked to challenge Cormier after he'd been arrested on an aggravated battery charge in late 2017 for allegedly KOing a man outside a Florida bar this past summer. The Switzerland native will make the title bout without incident after pleading not guilty to a third-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and is due back in court a month from now. All this to say, a phantom guillotine will hang over the brass' and Oezdemir's heads should he get the W on Saturday.

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That W goes through Cormier, who recently confessed he won't feel like the reigning 205-pound champ until he gets past Oezdemir, and understandably so. The 38-year-old lost the crown in a long awaited rematch with bitter rival Jon Jones by third-round TKO at UFC 214, but has since been reinstated due to Jones' positive in-competition steroid test. While the brutal stoppage was overturned to a no-contest as a result of Jones' transgression, Cormier feels like he'll be vying for a vacant crown in Boston, much like when he fought Anthony Johnson - a teammate of Oezdemir's - back at UFC 187.

Beantown's best

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The company would be remiss if it didn't book a few local talents on its fifth trip to Boston.

Two of the bill's trio of Bay State natives will grace the main card, with Rob Font meeting Brazilian bruiser Thomas Almeida in its bantamweight curtain-jerker and Calvin "The Boston Finisher" Kattar locking horns with featherweight Shane Burgos.

Font - of Leominster, Mass. - aims to get back in the win column after seeing a two-fight stoppage streak snapped with a first-round tapout to Pedro Munhoz this past October, while Almeida was last seen dropping a closely contested striking duel with Jimmie Rivera by unanimous decision at UFC on FOX 25. With a gaudy 30 stoppage victories between them, expect the pair of rising bantamweights to set a high bar for the card's pay-per-view portion.

Kattar will look to make it 10 in a row six months after besting Andre Fili on points in his short-notice debut at UFC 214. He meets another highly touted prospect in Burgos, an undefeated Tiger Schulmann pupil who most recently outclassed Godofredo Pepey in July.

Rounding out the card's slate of homegrown fighters is Gloucester's Kyle Bochniak, who welcomes Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series discovery and Alan Belcher protege Brandon Davis to the Octagon during the evening's prelims.

The man from Tibau

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It's not often a fighter with 26 UFC bouts to his name has to reintroduce himself, but such is the case for Janigleison Herculano Alves, better known to most as Gleison Tibau.

The 34-year-old lightweight gets back in the saddle Saturday opposite Islam Makhachev, a full 26 months removed from his last walk to the cage. Tibau made short work of Abel Trujillo back at UFC Fight Night 77 - submitting him in under two minutes - only to test positive for EPO in both in- and out-of-competition samples, get slapped with a two-year USADA-sanctioned ban, and see the tapout victory reversed to a DQ.

He now aims to snap a two-fight skid at the expense of Makhachev, a winner of two straight who last took a lopsided verdict over Nik Lentz 11 months ago at UFC 208.

Related - UFC 220 predictions: Miocic looks to make heavyweight history in Beantown