By Daily sports on March 28, 2021

Cameroon-born Francis Ngannou has officially become the ‘baddest man on the planet’, blowing away Stipe Miocic to claim the heavyweight world championship in the main event of UFC 260 in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.

The 34-year-old stopped Miocic 52 seconds into the second round, first taking the champion off his feet with a brutal jab before finishing the job with a crushing right hook that confirmed Ngannou as the first African-born heavyweight in Ultimate Fighting Championship history. He also now boasts the joint second-most KOs in UFC heavyweight history (10), with only Derrick Lewis (12) ahead of him.

Ngannou showed far greater patience compared to his first championship fight against Miocic in January 2018 (which ended with a unanimous decision triumph for the American), even showing an impressive takedown defence which took away perhaps the only path to a successful defence that the smaller, less powerful Miocic possessed.

“I don’t know if I can find the vocabulary to express this,” said Ngannou in his post-fight interview with UFC commentator Joe Rogan. He added, “Just imagine something you had your eye on for decades, once it finally happened, even if it was something that nobody could have believed would happen [...] there is a huge feeling of satisfaction.”

In terms of what comes next for the new champion, UFC legend Jon Jones is preparing to step up from light heavyweight to the top division and a marquee fight against Ngannou now seems the next logical step – something the Cameroonian agrees with.

“For my opinion, Jon Jones is the greatest of all time for mixed martial arts and him moving up is a good thing, a challenge that I would take. [...] I’m ready, any time soon even [Northern Hemisphere] summer, I will be ready to fight in July or August – whenever they’re ready, I’m ready.”

UFC 260’s main card also featured KO wins for bantamweight Sean O’Malley and lightweight Jamie Mullarkey over Thomas Almeida and Khama Worthy respectively. Former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley suffered a fourth-straight loss when he was submitted by Vicente Luque; and the only fight to go the distance saw Miranda Maverick defeat Gillian Robertson in the women’s flyweight division.

The next UFC event is a Fight Night on the morning of Sunday 11 April from the APEX Facility in Las Vegas, headlined by a middleweight clash between Darren Till and Marvin Vettori.

UFC 260 – MAIN CARD RESULTS

Main event: Heavyweight championship – Francis Ngannou def. Stipe Miocic via KO (punch), R2, 0:52

Welterweight: Vicente Luque def. Tyron Woodley via submission (brabo choke), R1, 3:56

Bantamweight: Sean O’Malley def. Thomas Almeida via KO (punch), R3, 3:52

Women’s flyweight: Miranda Maverick def. Gillian Robertson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28), R3, 5:00

Lightweight: Jamie Mullarkey def. Khama Worthy via KO (punches), R1, 0:46 (BackpageTXT)

•PHOTO: UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou

Source Daily sports

Posted March 28, 2021

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