SUMMARY
- Dana White reacts to Anthony Joshua KO2 Francis Ngannou.
- Robelis Despaigne's 18-second UFC 299 KO earns him a $50k bonus and the UFC CEO's appreciation.
After 13 long months, UFC might have just found the perfect replacement for Francis Ngannou.
Ngannou’s departure from the UFC left a void in the heavyweight division that was difficult to fill. After all, we are talking about one of the world’s hardest punchers. His power is ‘equal to getting hit by a Ford Escort going as fast as it can.’ Sorry Dana, I had to do it.
Unfortunately, we found out just a few days ago that 96 horsepower is not enough to land a clean punch on Anthony Joshua, a former boxing heavyweight champion with the physique of a Greek God. Despite his impressive performance against Tyson Fury, the Cameroonian native was quickly disposed of by AJ in the second round.
“Yeah, going into the Fury fight, if Fury trained for the fight and didn’t show up and look like he ate Tyson Fury, that’s probably the way that fight would’ve ended too. I mean, listen. You know how I feel about crossovers into boxing, that’s how they end, just like that,” Dana White said about Ngannou vs. Joshua at the UFC 299 post-fight presser.
While “The Predator” did make bank in his second boxing match, his reputation as the world’s scariest puncher took a hit. And this gave the UFC the perfect opportunity to introduce a new freak in their heavyweight division.
‘Dana Blanco’ reacts to Robelis Despaigne’s KO of Josh Parisian
Robelis Despaigne (5-0), an Olympic bronze medalist in taekwondo who probably feels the second round is lava, has never crossed the first in his professional MMA career.
It only took four back-to-back KO wins for Despaigne to catch the attention of the UFC CEO, and boy he did not disappoint. In just 18 seconds, “The Big Boy” crushed Josh Parisian’s hopes of getting back in the win column.
After Awarding everyone with a finish on UFC 299 a $50k bonus, except for Dustin Poirier (He won Fight of the Night), Dana White shared his views on Despaigne’s knockout victory over Josh Parisian in the post-fight press conference.
“Yeah, knockouts are great. When you go in, and you perform at this level – and pull off an incredible knockout, it literally does not get any better than that,” the UFC boss said.
Despaigne hopes to fight again at UFC 300, but Dana White has already set the bout order. Nonetheless, knowing the UFC’s unpredictability and White’s preference for a 35-year-old ‘kid’ who loves to compete, there’s still a chance.
Is Despaigne the new Francis Ngannou of the UFC? He certainly has the right tools for the job. But Only time will tell. And judging by his age, he does not have much left on his clock.