It only took Francis Ngannou 20 seconds and a vicious hit to finish Jairzinho Rozenstruik in their heavyweight fight at UFC 249, Saturday night.
The Surinamese mixed martial artist is fresh off an impressive come-from-behind victory against Alistair Overeem at UFC on ESPN 7 last December.
It was his 10 straight win on his professional MMA career, four under the UFC banner, which sets him up to a titanic clash with his fellow knockout sensation.
Ngannou, who previously fought for the heavyweight title, is currently riding a three-fight winning streak since his back-to-back losses to Derrick Lewis and Stipe Miocic.
Going into this fight, ‘The Predator’ has been in one of the longest training camps of his career in what he described as “not the best conditions that you would like to be in.” But eager to earn another shot at the heavyweight strap, Ngannou overcame the challenge as he aims to finish Rozenstruik.
https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1258763060271087617
Insane Finish
The 31-year old completed his mission and sent ‘Big Boy’ to the shadow realm with solid strikes to wrap up the fight just 20 seconds into the opening round.
“I was expecting this fight to be for the title,” Ngannou said following the massive knockout win.
Watch the knockout below:
Francis Ngannou is a bad bad man pic.twitter.com/fvQKXxwW1r
— Paul Chaunt (@paulyc1117) May 10, 2020
https://twitter.com/espnmma/status/1259326471744741377
Check out some of the craziest reactions from MMA fans:
That #francisngannou ko tho #ufc249 pic.twitter.com/YsM8zEV6aq
— Sam Osakue (@tharealsamo) May 10, 2020
Biggie boy dead in the ring lmao #UFC249
— Tha Doc's In (@thegreat4kay) May 10, 2020
OMG he went out just by one hit!#UFC249
— Shawn Cano (@TidiestWizard) May 10, 2020
What a humble beast Francis @ufc #UFC249
— Karan Jotwani (@BabaJotwani) May 10, 2020
When the aliens invade. I’m sending Francis Ngannou to the front lines #UFC249
— Chris 〽️ (@Chris301Tweets) May 10, 2020
Here are the UFC 249 fight card results below:
Francis Ngannou def. Jair Rozenstruik via first-round knockout
Calvin Kattar def. Jeremy Stephens via second-round knockout (elbow)
Greg Hardy def. Yorgan de Castro via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Anthony Pettis def. Donald Cerrone via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Aleksei Oleinik def. Fabricio Werdum via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Carla Esparza def. Michelle Waterson via split decision (30-27, 27-30, 29-28)
Vicente Luque def. Niko Price via third-round TKO (doctor stoppage)
Bryce Mitchell def. Charles Rosa via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-24)
Ryan Spann def. Sam Alvey via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1259327341148483585
(Featured Image Source: Twitter/ ESPN MMA)