More than three years after his initial attempt to earn gold, [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] became UFC champion.
At UFC 260 on Saturday, Ngannou (16-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) knocked out Stipe Miocic 52 seconds into the second round.
The heavyweight title bout was the UFC 260 main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
The heavyweights first met at UFC 220 in January 2018. In that fight, Miocic beat Ngannou with a unanimous decision with 50-44 scores on all three judges’ cards. Ngannou struggled to stop takedowns in that fight – but not Saturday.
Early in Round 1, Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) shot for a takedown. Ngannou didn’t end up on his back, but instead reversed Miocic and landed some big punches. Miocic ate everything Ngannou threw and remained calm, but struggled to muster up much offense outside of a few low calf kicks.
Miocic opened Round 2 with more striking, and Ngannou made him pay. He dropped Miocic in the opening seconds. Miocic recovered and got to his feet, but was met by an Ngannou uppercut.
As Ngannou charged forward, Miocic countered and connected. The blow put Ngannou on his back foot. Miocic recognized it and moved in, but Ngannou returned with a fight-ending punch that folded Miocic with his left foot awkwardly twisted underneath him. As Miocic springboarded with his leg unfolded out from under him, he was met by a diving hammer-fist from Ngannou.
WHAT A FINISH BY NGANNOU! 😱 #UFC260
(@espnmma) pic.twitter.com/duwoWIyanv
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 28, 2021
With the win, Ngannou made his second career UFC title challenge his first successful one. In victory, Ngannou extended his winning streak to five after wins over Curtis Blaydes, former champs Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos, and Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Those first four came in the first round in an average of about 40 seconds each.
With the loss, Miocic dropped the UFC heavyweight title for the second time in his career and had his two-fight winning streak snapped. Miocic has only lost to Ngannou, Cormier, Dos Santos and Stefan Struve during his 18-fight UFC tenure.
Up-to-the-minute UFC 260 results include:
- Francis Ngannou def. Stipe Miocic via knockout (punches) – Round 2, 0:52 – to win heavyweight title
- Vicente Luque def. Tyron Woodley via submission (D’Arce choke) – Round 1, 3:56
- Sean O’Malley def. Thomas Almeida via knockout (punch) – Round 3, 3:52
- Miranda Maverick def. Gillian Robertson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Jamie Mullarkey def. Khama Worthy via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:46
- Alonzo Menifield def. Fabio Cherant via submission (Von Flue choke) – Round 1, 1:11
- Abubakar Nurmagomedov def. Jared Gooden via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Michal Oleksiejczuk def. Modestas Bukauskas via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Omar Morales def. Shane Young via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Marc-Andre Barriault def. Abu Azaitar via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 4:56
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