Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou recently accepted the “body shot challenge” and was able to absorb two very powerful strikes to the midsection before calling it quits.
And lest you think “calling it quits” is meant to be insulting, I can assure you that if I dressed like a baseball catcher and stood behind a Sealy Posturepedic, I would still fold in half like an 80s Trapper Keeper.
The “body shot challenge,” in the vein of the “bottle cap challenge” and a dozen other goofy physical skill tests, asks participants to get punched in the gut to prove their mettle. Somewhere in another dimension, Harry Houdini is shaking his head in disgust.
Ngannou (15-3) has lots of free time on his hands after getting cleared of attempted murder charges for his UFC 249 knockout win over Jairzinho Rozenstruik. “The Predator” is expected to fight the winner of Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier, who collide at UFC 253 in August.