Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fans may not have gotten the knockout they were wanted, but Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou still gave everybody a fight worth remembering.
The heavyweight championship clash saw two of the UFC's hardest hitters going head to head, and the crowd in attendance expected the fight to end soon. Ngannou managed to land heavy blows on Miocic, even hitting the champion with an uppercut early in the fight, although it was not on the same level as the one that put Alistair Overeem to sleep.
But it was Miocic who had the better gameplan, which was to tire out Ngannou while conserving his own stamina. The champion was busy on the outside, landing straight rights on the challenger. Miocic would shoot for the takedown everytime Ngannou rushed in recklessly, pounding on the challenger. Miocic and at one point even made Ngannou carry the brunt of his weight when the Cameroonian tried to get up.
Miocic won the fight via unanimous decision, giving Ngannou the first loss of his career. The challenger, speaking like a true student of the game, said that the loss was a valuable experience, something that he would get wiser from.
"I've been doing this sport only four years and I know that I will keep learning and improving," Ngannou said. "What happened tonight was, I think, the last step for me learning about this sport."
Miocic is now 12-2 in the UFC after the victory. He also made history by being the only heavyweight that has successfully defended the belt three consecutive times.
Meanwhile, in the Light Heavyweight division, Daniel Cormier successfully defended his championship against the division's dark horse Volkan Oezdemir. The challenger landed some good shots early on but ended up in a rear-naked choke position by the end of the round. Things might have been different if Cormier had used his wrestling much sooner.
The champion had things much under control in the second round where he outwrestled his now gassed opponent. Cormier took Oezdemir down and had his opponent's arms pinned at side control, while pounding away at his opponent with his free hand. The referee stopped the fight as the challenger could no longer defend himself.
The champion can now put his heartbreaking loss to Jon Jones last year and look towards the future. Fans are curious whether a third fight with Jones will take place, but given Jones' troublesome nature, Cormier is not sure whether he wants to have another fight that is marred with controversy.
"I don't know if I can put myself through that again. I've done everything right and I've just been dragged down by this guy constantly. So I'm not thinking about it. I'm gonna do my thing for right now," he said in a report by Forbes.
