UFC 260 went down last night (Sat. March 27) inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, which saw Francis Ngannou knockout Stipe Miocic in the second round to win the Heavyweight title (see it again here). In the co-headlining act, Vicente Luque handed Tyron Woodley his fourth straight loss via first round submission (recap here).
Biggest Winner: Francis Ngannou
“The Predator” fulfilled his lifelong combat dream of becoming UFC champion by absolutely crushing Miocic in round two of their highly-anticipated rematch, though he nearly ended it in round one. Stipe did all he could to survive Ngannou’s powerful bombs, but this time around the hard-hitting big man found his mark on several occasions, eventually tagging Miocic with a hard left hand that put him out for the count. That is now five straight knockout wins for “The Predator,” who also secured himself a huge fight in his first defense against former Light Heavyweight champion, Jon Jones (we think). It truly is a rags to riches story for Ngannou, who will have every sponsor and news outlet at his front door come Monday morning wanting to get a piece of the newest “Baddest Man on the Planet.”
Runner Up: Sean O’Malley
O’Malley got back in the win column in a huge way by knocking out Thomas Almeida in their Bantamweight bout. “Suga” looked good throughout the fight, nearly scoring a first round knockout, which he would have earned if he kept fighting instead of looking for style points via a walk-off KO. O’Malley eventually got the stoppage win in the third round of their Bantamweight bout. Now that he’s back in the win column, “Suga” can ride the wave of momentum into his next fight in hopes of inching himself to the front of the championship line. Now, if he would just stop the whole “undefeated” claim thing he’s got going.
Biggest Loser: Tyron Woodley
Woodley just keeps digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole. The former Welterweight champion of the world has now lost four straight fights after getting submitted by Vicente Luque in round one. “The Chosen One” came out aggressive in hopes of landing a homerun shot. And it was good to see because ever since getting dominated by Kamaru Usman, Woodley has been gun shy. Unfortunately his aggressiveness ended up being his downfall, eventually finding himself on the wrong end of a submission defeat. You have to give “The Chosen One” credit for going balls to the wall and laying it all on the line, but at the end of the day four straight losses is a career changer. Where he goes from here is anyone’s guess, but Woodley has a lot of ground to cover if he ever wants to come close to sniffing another title shot.
For complete UFC 260 results and coverage click here.