Francis Ngannou came out swinging hard hands in the first round at Stipe Miocic but failed to land any significant punches during their UFC heavyweight title fight.
The eagerly-awaited UFC heavyweight title bout between Miocic and Ngannou served as the main-event of UFC 220 in Boston back in January 2018.
Ngannou headed into his first UFC championship contest riding an impressive six-fight winning streak, but he succumbed to Miocic despite attempting to land bombs in the opening exchanges of round one.
The French-Cameroonian unleashed a series of terrifying punches which Miocic evaded, dodging his opponent's early onslaught with some brilliant head movement.
The American continued to nullify Ngannou's attack as he ground out a decision victory to successfully defend his UFC heavyweight belt.
Ngannou then suffered another defeat to the hands of Derrick Lewis but he's returned to the win column in destructive fashion.
He's on a four-fight winning streak which includes a stunning 20-second demolition of Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC 249 earlier this month.
The No.2 ranked heavyweight is hoping to land another UFC title shot yet it appears the promotion are set to book Miocic against Daniel Cormier which will conclude their trilogy.
Ngannou's desperate to run it back with the current heavyweight king, though he's also eyeing a super-fight with UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
The two UFC stars have traded verbal jabs on Twitter ahead of a potential clash at heavyweight.
Will Ngannou become UFC heavyweight champion? Let us know what you think.
Topics: Jon Jones, Stipe Miocic, UFC News, Fight News, UFC, Francis Ngannou, MMA
Nasir Jabbar