Top ranked UFC heavyweights did battle in China and it was the Cameroonian Francis Ngannou who came away with an emphatic victory.
In Beijing Francis Ngannou showed he is still worthy of placement within the elite class of current UFC heavyweights. His last fight, versus Derrick Lewis, ranks highly as one of the worst UFC fights in recent memory, but he didn’t disappoint this time around — taking just 45 seconds to finish Curtis Blaydes.
What was the high point of the fight?
There is literally nothing to choose from. The high point is the huge overhand right that Ngannou landed on Blaydes 30 seconds into the fight. The strike looked as if it was half-blocked by Blaydes, but it was still powerful enough to ring Blaydes’ bell. The punch struck Blaydes’ temple, sending him crashing to the canvas. Though Blaydes looked as if he had a shot at surviving that shot, follow-up strikes from Ngannou left referee Marc Goddard with no choice but to call off the fight.
Where do these two go from here?
For Curtis Blaydes, this couldn’t have gone worse. Prior to this fight he already had a loss to Ngannou on his record. That loss was controversial, coming due to an injury, in a bout Blaydes was doing very well in. But none of those details will be remembered now, thanks to Ngannou besting Blaydes the second time around in such emphatic fashion. The loss ruins Blaydes winning streak that included victories over Alistair Overeem, Mark Hunt, and Alexey Oleynik. Now he’ll have to rebound against another top heavyweight, instead of preparing for a title shot (which was probably in grasp had he won tonight).
For Ngannou, this fight perfectly salvages his reputation as a fearsome heavyweight knockout artist. Even though his last two performances — against Lewis and Stipe Miocic — were dreadful, recency bias will mean fans and the promoter will forget all about them in favour of this highlight (and the others he racked up before coming unstuck). In the cage Ngannou requested Junior dos Santos or a rematch with Stipe Miocic, both of those fights seem realistic.
Watch it now, later, or never?
What else can you do in 45 seconds? Watch this now and decide for yourself if Blaydes had any reason to be upset with the stoppage.