Remember When UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou Fought In Albany?
UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou is the undisputed "Baddest Man on the Planet" now that he knocked out Stipe Miocic as the main event of UFC 260 but do you remember when he stole the show at UFC Fight Night 102 here in Albany? On a card headlined by fellow heavyweight Derrick Lewis vs Shamil Abdurakhimov, Ngannou stole the show and the title of "Fight of the Night" when he submitted Anthony Hamilton in front of over 6,000 MMA fans at the Times Union Center on December 9th, 2016.
It was only Ngannou's fourth fight in the UFC and if my memory is correct his sole submission since joining the UFC and after seeing the way "The Predator" is knocking heads off, Hamilton may have got lucky.
That kimura armbar netted Ngannou a sweet $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus. Now after his second fight with potentially the greatest heavyweight fighter of all-time Stipe Miocic, Francis "The Predator" Ngannou is the UFC Heavyweight Champion following a nasty second-round knockout.
Just Friday MMA reporter and host of Phone Booth Fighting podcast Richard Hunter said he hoped Ngannou would win and set up a trilogy fight with Miocic on Levack and Charlie. If that third fight between Miocic and Ngannou is going to happen it looks like it would follow a super-fight match-up between Ngannou and New York native Jon "Bones" Jones. It's pretty awesome to think that the hardest puncher in the UFC once got a guy to tap out in the first-ever UFC at the Times Union Center.