Cageside footage shows Francis Ngannou hammering Stipe Miocic's head through the floor after sickening KO
03/27/2025 08:12 AM
‘The Predator’ is one of the most devastating knockout artists to have ever put on a pair of four-ounce gloves.
The power in Francis Ngannou’s hands, even if his UFC PI record was beaten, has made him into a superstar.
Ngannou now finds himself in the PFL and it doesn’t look like he’ll be departing anytime soon but the Cameroonian giant made his name in the Octagon.
Long before Ngannou became a major player in boxing’s heavyweight division following his close fight with Tyson Fury, his one and only goal was the UFC title which eluded him the first time around.
The one of a kind athlete went on to carve a path of destruction through the division to find himself back in a title fight where he delivered another sickening finish.
Francis Ngannou bounced Stipe Miocic’s head off the canvas in heavyweight title win
Before Jon Jones made his move up to the heavyweight division, the top guy was undoubtedly Stipe Miocic.
Miocic’s record-breaking third defense of the heavyweight title came against Francis Ngannou in 2018 where he became the first man to beat the surging contender inside the Octagon.
The fight was a harsh reality check for Ngannou and the hype around him after his streak of four consecutive first-round finishes was shut down by a dominant champion.
After one of the most underwhelming fights in UFC history against Derrick Lewis, Ngannou’s path back to the title kicked off in November of 2018.
‘The Predator’ went on to produce another four consecutive first-round finishes, beating top contenders and former champions in Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos and Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
Nearly a year on from his last win, Ngannou got another shot at Miocic who had recently closed out his trilogy of fights with Daniel Cormier which saw him regain his place at the top of the division.
The defending champion’s veteran status didn’t help him this time around as a far more refined and calm challenger looked completely different in the opening round.
Ngannou didn’t just defend his opponent’s one takedown attempt, he ended up securing one of his own in the same exchange.
Standing with the knockout artist is always a ticking time bomb and in less than a minute of the second round, Miocic’s time ran out.
A huge shot dropped the champion but as he got back up to his feet and made his way to the center of the Octagon, another missile connected.
Miocic fell to the floor after eating a big left hook but that paled in comparison to the impact of the pulverising right hammer fist that Ngannou brought down on him before the referee could step in to wave the fight off.
A cage-side view of the knockout shows the brutal moment that Ngannou’s hand connects with an already beaten Miocic whose head rebounds off of the Octagon like a basketball being struck with a sledge hammer.
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We still don’t know how great Francis Ngannou can be in MMA
Francis Ngannou’s consecutive losses to Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis were the last times that he was defeated in MMA.
At 38-years-old, the former UFC heavyweight champion’s inactivity has quickly crept up on him even if he did start MMA later on in life.
Since his title win in the rematch with Miocic in March of 2021, Ngannou has only competed twice in MMA along with his two boxing contests.
‘The Predator’ has achieved a lot in this time but it also means that we don’t really know how great he really could be if he had competed more regularly in MMA.
