In a battle of UFC heavyweights, Francis Ngannou knocked out former contender Alistair Overeem at UFC 218, which was held live from the Little Caesars Arena from Detroit, Michigan.
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Ngannou has shown an ability to finish opponents on the ground or on his feet, but most notably has knocked out the legendary Andrei Arlovski as well as Overeem in consecutive fights.
Francis Ngannou Knockout of Alistair Overeem
Overeem tweeted after the bout noting he was recovering:
No damage and all healthy thankfully.. unfortunately lost today. Props to @francis_ngannou, I got hit with a uppercut from he**, one of his specialities which we new were very dangerous. Some chill time now before back to the drawing-board 🙏🏽
— Alistair Overeem (@Alistairovereem) December 3, 2017
Overeem is the man that TKO'd Brock Lesnar back in 2011. His career has been up and down since then. He came into that Saturday night's fight with wins over Fabricio Werdum and Mark Hunt in back-to-back bouts.
That came before Max Holloway ground-and-pounded Jose Aldo to a successful Featherweight Championship defense.
Coming into that main event, Holloway hadn't lost in 11 consecutive bouts. He won the interim UFC Featherweight Championship against Anthony Pettis nearly one year ago, and he became the official champion after TKO'ing Jose Aldo in June.
Odds heading into the fight had Holloway (-290) as the favorite over Aldo (+245).
Holloway criticized Aldo leading into the fight, who has detailed a "renewed sense of motivation," per ESPN:
"You're in the wrong business, man," Holloway said. "There's another guy trying to seriously hurt you in there, and this guy is talking about motivation. It just blows my mind."
Originally slated to fight Frankie Edgar, the one-time champ had to pull out of the bout due to injury, making way for Aldo's rematch.
Aldo won his UFC debut, which was for the UFC Featherweight Championship, defeating Mark Hominik by decision. Aldo was the final WEC Featherweight Champion before the promotion shifted to the UFC. Aldo held the belt from 2011 until 2015, when he was one-punch knocked out by Conor McGregor. Aldo won the belt back on an interim basis from Edgar in July 2016 at UFC 200.
This article was originally published December 3, 2017. Ngannou lost his next fight versus Stipe Miocic, who successfully defended the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Ngannou's most recent bout was a first-round knockout of Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC 249.
