At UFC 249, nobody thought Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruik were going to go the distance.
But not many people thought Rozenstruik would be knocked out cold in 20 seconds.
Rozenstruik was out cold after Francis Ngannou caught him with a left hook
But that’s exactly what happened when two of the top heavyweights in UFC met with a shot at the winner of Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic’s eventual fight up for grabs.
Rozenstruik would land an inside leg kick to start proceedings, but Ngannou, with a noticeable size advantage squared him up and simply ran him down.
The Cameroonian-born fighter threw a series of shots until a left-hook caught Rozenstruik flush on the jaw and it sent him to sleep on the cage.
Ngannou wanted to make sure, of course, and rained more shots down until the referee intervened. Take a look:
Incredibly, it was Rozenstruik who was calling Ngannou out for this fight.
Following his victory over Alistair Overeem in devstating fashion, Rozenstruik, who had moved to 10-0, went big game-hunting.
Unfortunately for him, Nagannou was more than ready and proved once more why he is the most powerful puncher in the UFC period.
After the fight, Ngannou admitted he was frustrated with the state of the heavyweight division in UFC right now and he had requested that this bout with Rozenstruik should be for the interim heavyweight title.
President Trump congratulates Dana White on running UFC 249
Dana White did not go for that idea and instead, Miocic will meet Daniel Cormier later this year when his gym reopens. Until then, he is working as a first responder.
That leaves Nagnnou on the cusp of the title, but he has to wait for the winner of Cormier and Miocic’s trilogy fight.
Speaking of Cormier, his reaction to the knockout tells you everything you need to know:
Elsewhere at UFC 249, Donald Cerrone was defeated in the main event of the prelims, but once again showed his class as Anthony Pettis collected the win.
Vincent Luque opened up the prelims with a victory over Niko Price. The victory came via a doctor stoppage after Price suffered a seriously injured eye following an overhand left.