Francis Ngannou has won heavyweight gold across multiple promotions and even took boxing’s world champion to a split decision in his debut – nevertheless it didn’t at all times go his way.
The Cameroonian arrived within the UFC in 2015 before quickly establishing himself as certainly one of the toughest hitters in combat history. He scored six stoppages all inside two rounds to earn a shot at Stipe Miocic, who was on the time and remains to be considered certainly one of the best heavyweights of all time.
What was Francis Ngannou’s most impressive UFC performance?
‘The Predator’ knocked out Stipe Miocic, Cain Velasquez, Curtis Blaydes, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, and more during his stint within the Octagon.
Ngannou entered UFC 220 as favorite despite his limited experience and as hard as it could be to imagine today, he brought with him the whole Dana White promotional push. Nonetheless, all of it went south when it quickly became apparent he couldn’t grapple in any respect, and Miocic was an excessive amount of for him.
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Francis Ngannou and Stipe Miocic’s first fight was embarrassing beatdown
Before UFC 220, there was a belief that if Francis Ngannou landed a clean shot of any description, it was goodnight for any human on the planet. Even Stipe Miocic’s famed heart was questioned because the pair headed to Boston’s TD Garden for his or her clash.
The champ entered the octagon on a formidable five-fight knockout streak of his own, and the fight was one of the anticipated in divisional history. An early storm did are available in the shape of Ngannou’s attack, but once Miocic weathered it, there appeared to be little else within the tank.
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Ngannou showed a definite lack of wrestling ability as he was taken down six times of the 14 attempts made. He had minimal ability to get off his back, and the fight ended up in a 50-44 victory for Miocic that forced drastic change within the challenger’s camp.
After the very fact, Ngannou attempted to return with a bang in what was expected to be one of the exciting and hard-hitting matchups of the yr. He took on Derrick Lewis, but seemed a shell of himself in a drudging decision defeat.
Once he had lost back-to-back for the primary time in his life, Ngannou decided to make wholesale changes including dropping head coach Fernand Lopez. The split was not friendly, and the pair are still at odds to today.
Francis Ngannou went on to avenge his defeat
Luckily, it wasn’t the top for Ngannou. He re-located full-time to Las Vegas, teamed up with Eric Nicksick and learned the way to grapple to a level that made him an actual contender again with three pre-covid wins and one stunning knockout of Jairzinho Rozenstruik in the primary show back from lockdown.
That was enough to get him a rematch with Miocic, which many expected would go the identical as the primary time around. Nonetheless, when he stuffed the primary takedown with ease, there appeared to be an air of inevitability to what would occur.
He flattened the legendary champion, ending his reign and for all intents and purposes his profession. Ngannou would go on to defend against Ciryl Gane and leave the UFC along with his belt, heading to PFL via a boxing pitstop.
His most famous fight got here within the ring in October of 2023 when he dropped then-lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury en path to a split decision defeat. He was knocked out by Anthony Joshua in his second boxing outing before winning the PFL Super Fights belt.
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