It would appear that rising heavyweight star Francis Ngannou will be facing off for the UFC title after all.
Detroit, Michigan hosted the highly anticipated fight card UFC 218 on Saturday, Dec. 2, inside the Little Caesars Arena. The card including a hoard of enticing octagon performances and exciting match ups. Among them, the world’s most famous mixed martial arts promotion offered a heavyweight war that left the entire arena on their feet.
UFC Alistair Overeem has climbed his way to the No. 1 contender position in the heavyweight division. The fighter earned an impressive knockout victory over Mark Hunt, before claiming a close decision victory over former champion Fabricio Werdum.
The No. 1 contender was then set to headline UFC 218’s big show in Detroit. For his opponent, Overeem was faced with a rising heavyweight star. Francis Ngannou is undefeated inside the octagon, with a nine fight winning streak as a professional mixed martial artist. The most earned a first round TKO over Andrei Arlovski before stepping into the octagon for UFC 218.
In the night’s co-main event, Ngannou put on a dominant display over his opponent with a brutal first round knockout victory. Now the fighter is set to face off against reigning UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic for his next match up.
UFC President Dana White confirmed that Ngannou will be receiving a title shot at the UFC 218 post-fight press conference. Speaking on Ngannou’s big win, White said:
“[Ngannou] looked incredible tonight. Wow. That’s as impressive a heavyweight knockout as you will ever see.
“When you look at him, he looks like the heavyweight champion of the world. I mean, he looks like the heavyweight champion of something. The guy’s a monster. He continues to get better. I always believed in this guy since I met him, I thought that he was going to be the man, but, boy, he looked like the man tonight.”
An official date and venue for the match up has yet to be announced, but White revealed that he wants to pin the two heavyweights against each other as soon as possible.
