When Francis Ngannou knocked out Stipe Miocic on Saturday night, UFC fans began comparing him to other heavyweight stars. Jon Jones was a prominent name mentioned, but another former champion’s name also circulated. Some people began comparing Ngannou to Brock Lesnar.
“Nice to see Ngannou and White shake hands afterwards,” ESPN’s Ariel Helwani tweeted after the fight. “That relationship has come a long way. Not since Brock Lesnar has the UFC had a truly scary heavyweight champion like this who can capture the imagination of the mainstream public. The Jon Jones fight will be massive.”
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Helwani was not the only person making comments about the former UFC fighter-turned-WWE star. Several others weighed in and noted a special stat that tied the two heavyweights together. Specifically, Ngannou became one of only three fighters to land two knockdowns during a title fight. Cain Velasquez achieved this feat against Lesnar at UFC 121, while Frank Mir did so against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92.
Both Lesnar and Ngannou have shown the ability to knock out opponents, making them both fearsome opponents in the octagon. However, there were some people on social media that proclaimed that Ngannou is a more refined striker and a complete fighter. Some even said that he would defeat “prime Lesnar” during a head-to-head fight.
This victory at UFC 260 is not the first time that people have discussed a hypothetical battle between Lesnar and Ngannou. The new heavyweight champion also mentioned the possibility in 2018. He was coming off a loss and had several people calling him out. However, Ngannou said that there was one person he wanted to fight.
“Please Brock, come back, come back my friend. We need you here,” Ngannou said, per MMA Fighting. “We need you to put the fun in this division. I need you to give me that f—ing fight I’ve been waiting for for a long time, I’ve been dreaming for.”
At the time of the comments, Lesnar was under contract with WWE. He was the promotions heavyweight champion at the time and appeared to be far away from a return to the octagon. However, rumors still persisted about whether Lesnar would go back for more fights.
“It’s up to what [the UFC] want to give me,” Ngannou added. “There are a lot of people out there who want to fight me. I saw Mark Hunt, he would be a great one. By myself, I want Brock. Brock Lesnar.”
