Watch: Celebrations erupt in the Israel Adesanya household when Francis Ngannou knocks out Stipe Miocic to win the heavyweight championship
Israel Adesanya and his family broke out in celebration after Francis Ngannou’s knockout win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 260.
The fight turned out to be a pretty one-sided contest, with Ngannou controlling the pace in the first round with solid takedown defense and some patient shots. Then, in the second, he was able to drop Stipe. While Miocic did fight back, it wasn’t enough as “The Predator” closed the show with an absolutely vicious KO shot.
Adesanya’s joy
That makes Ngannou the third African-born champion in UFC history. As you can imagine, Israel Adesanya was pretty happy to see his friend join that exclusive club.
'The Last Stylebender' can be heard shouting “that’s three”, noting that Ngannou followed in the footsteps of himself and Kamaru Usman who currently hold the gold at middleweight and welterweight.
There have been plenty of obstacles along the way for Ngannou to deal with. Through it all, he’s been able to persevere and really prove to the world that he is the new king at the top of the heavyweight division.
Funnily enough, his next challenge could come against someone that Adesanya also has a rivalry with - Jon Jones.
Jones made it clear that he wants to go after Francis and the heavyweight title. On the flip side, Adesanya also wants to take his shot at Jones somewhere down the road. The fact that he lost to Jan Blachowicz and couldn’t become the new UFC light heavyweight champion impacts things slightly. However, at the very least, we’re going to get some fun fights moving forward.
In terms of Ngannou, there’s no telling what this could do for the future of African mixed martial arts. There are so many killers out there just waiting to be discovered by the promotion. We could be in the midst of a brand new period of dominance in the UFC.
Usman and Adesanya will both have their hands full in defending their crowns against Jorge Masvidal and (potentially) Whittaker, Till or Vettori. For Ngannou, the next few weeks will be all about him basking in the glory of his success.