UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic has come forward to debunk rising knockout artist Francis Ngannou’s place as the most powerful puncher in the sport.
Francis Ngannou earned a shot at the heavyweight title after knockout out former K-1 champion and former top division contender Alistair Overeem. Ngannou has a mass of promotional attention on him leading into the title fight, with the knockout artist having even been tested at the UFC Athlete Preformance Institute for having the most powerful punch in the sport.
Miocic and Ngannou finally met inside the octagon at UFC 220, with the reigning champion ultimately earning a dominant unanimous decision victory over Ngannou. Miocic recently sat down with Ariel Helwani on the latest edition of The MMA Hour to discuss the fight as well is what is next for the champion.
Via The MMA Hour, as transcribed by MMAimports.com, Miocic stated:
“No, I’ve felt harder [punches from other opponents] for sure, of course. He definitely hits hard, every time. You don’t want to take any chances. I wasn’t giving him the opportunity to land one of those meat hooks on my face. But he definitely hits hard.”
Stipe Miocic is now set to defend his title from rising challenger and reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 226. The super fight will go down July 7 as part of International Fight Week.
The live pay-per-view event will take place inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.
