After Nigerians Israel Adesanya in light heavyweight and Kamaru Usman in welterweight, it is a Cameroonian who is the first African heavyweight champion in mixed martial arts (MMA).
Francis "the predator" Ngannou is the new MMA heavyweight world champion. The fighter demolished Croatian-American Stipe Miocic in the second round of UFC 260 in Las Vegas. The Cameroonian fighter dedicated his victory to Africa in a tweet, he is the third African in the history of the tournament to win an MMA title, and the first in the heavyweight category.
👑 CROWNED
Africa has its third belt 🌍 #CROWNEDCHAMP # ufc260 pic.twitter.com/Iw3tvZ04QG
- Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) March 28, 2021
An express fight
This fight was the second between Ngannou and Miocic. It was the American who won the first round in 2018, by decision of the judges on a score of 11 to 2. In press conferences leading up to today's fight, Ngannou did say that he expected to take his revenge, and that the judges would not even have to deliberate.
And it was the case. Francis Ngannou inflicted a K.-O. in the second round to Miocic, bending him in half with a devastating left direct, before referee Herb Dean stepped in to save Miocic. “I don't know if I can find the vocabulary to express this,” said a cheerful Ngannou after the biggest victory of his career.
Ngannou gave Miocic a taste of what is to come by hitting him on the head with his right hand in the first round. Moments later, Ngannou warned Miocic that he had improved since their initial reunion in January 2018 by showing excellent defense against punches from the always dynamic Miocic, before taking the American in the back and triggering short flank attacks that did damage.
Ngannou ensured that things were no longer questionable for Miocic in the second round, when he blew his left hook, capsizing Miocic. Ngannou then bombarded Miocic with short hooks. A few seconds later, Ngannou concluded with a final fatal blow.
"The predator is here to stay"
Following Ngannou's victory, New Yorker Jon Jones challenged the new champion. Ngannou has said he will be ready to defend his brand new title against Jones in July or August.
The general trend in MMA is for heavyweight champions to hold onto their titles for a relatively long time. Randy Couture, Ricco Rodriguez, Arlovski, Brock Lesnar and Daniel Cormier have all defended their respective titles at least twice, and remained champions for one to three years.
MMA specialists consider Ngannou to be the most dangerous fighter on the planet. The ex-aggregates miner, who immigrated to France in 2013 and lived homeless for two years, has indeed a tenacious temperament, a champion character. He won't give up his title easily.
This striker denotes in a championship where wrestlers, practitioners of ju-jitsu and krav-maga have dominated the podium for at least six years. He brings back to the taste of the day a pure style, requiring rigor and phenomenal physical capacities. Most UFC fighters are not trained to defend against a striker, hence the success of the few practitioners of this style which is based on boxing and street fighting, like the Irish MMA star Connor McGregor.