Former UFC heavyweight title challenger Francis Ngannou scored his fourth straight first-round knockout victory. Ngannou fought rising heavyweight contender Jairzinho Rozenstruik on the main card of UFC 249 at Jacksonville, Florida.
It took Ngannou less than 20-seconds to takeout Rozenstruik. As the fight started, Rozenstruik landed an inside leg kick, but soon Ngannou charged and landed his counter right hand. This dropped Rozenstruik towards the cage and then he ended the fight with a crushing left hand.
Since his loss to Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis, the Cameroonian born champion has managed to finish Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, and now Rozenstruik.
Mike Tyson praises Francis Ngannou for Rozenstruik win
Former heavyweight champion and knockout artist Mike Tyson took to Twitter to congratulate Francis Ngannou on his knockout win.
Resounding … vicious …. future champ. #FrancesNyngonu 20 second knockout 2nite #UFC249
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) May 10, 2020
“Resounding … vicious …. future champ. #FrancesNyngonu 20 second knockout 2nite #UFC249,” Mike Tyson tweeted.
Francis Ngannou in a recent interview with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani revealed that he tries to emulate Mike Tyson’s combination punching.
“I was in Mike Tyson range and I saw him move and he showed me something and I am like ‘This guy can still fight’“, Ngannou said. “He is 53-years old but everything is still on point and when I saw that video, I tried to duplicate that combo many times. If you look at my coaches during the fight, sometimes they saw Mike Tyson combo,”
“It’s 1-2, left hook, body-body, and right cross,” Ngannou said laughingly when asked what the combo type was.
The Predator wants to fight for the title
Ngannou has been on a tear in his last four fights. He has only spent 2 minutes and 40 seconds inside the Octagon in his last four fights. In the Ariel Helwani interview, he emphasized on the fact that this was Ngannou’s first fight in eleven months. It has been frustrating for him to take such a long layoff in between fights when he isn’t even injured.
It’s still unclear as to when Ngannou will get a title shot next as Stipe Miocic is supposed to defend his title in a trilogy fight later this year. The fight was supposed to take place in the first half of 2020, but the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak has delayed the champion’s Octagon return.
“I don’t know what it takes to have a title shot in the UFC. I’ve made my peace with that. It’s not that I don’t care, but I don’t want to feel like something is controlling me. With or without a title shot, I’m still a fighter and still have what I have and can make a statement,” said Ngannou.
Do you guys think Ngannou will get a title shot next?
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