Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Heavyweights

6. Francis Ngannou

I don't need to tell you about Ngannou's obvious gifts, including his amazing, uncanny punching power from not just one hand but both, which he can generate from absolutely any angle, and his terrifying hand speed for the decision. Or his outstanding takedown defense and ability to explode back up off the canvas, forcing Stipe Miocic to take him down roughly a hundred times in their first fight. Or his titanium chin, which took several hundred flush blows from a fearsome striker in Miocic with seemingly little effect.

Yet what is ignored is how intelligent Ngannou became after his loss to Derrick Lewis, not only ruthlessly exploiting opponent weaknesses, but applying brilliant game plans and improving as a mixed martial artist. For instance, Jairzinho Rozenstruik presented a tougher match-up on paper than Lewis, possessing similarly furious punching power from either hand, but with a tougher chin that rivaled Ngannou's own. Instead of fighting tentatively like he had against Lewis, or at least feeling him out in the beginning, Ngannou did the exact opposite. He flew out of the gate like a berserker, with a kill-or-be-killed attitude. Rozenstruik was caught unaware and while he landed a fairly clean shot as Ngannou charged in, it wasn't enough, and Ngannou splattered his foe's iron chin on the canvas with a few brutal punches. Then, in the rematch against Miocic, Ngannou switched gears, fighting very calmly in the first round and not wasting much energy, before knocking out the great champion early in Round 2 with a left hook. He showed even more wrinkles to his game against the tremendous challenger Ciryl Gane, who might well appear on this list in the years to come. Ngannou's weaknesses were supposed to be cardio and offensive wrestling, but after losing the first two rounds, he started grappling and swept the final three stanzas to take the decision. It was a wonderful demonstration of Ngannou's growth as a martial artist of the highest caliber. I certainly hope Ngannou continues racking up victories and moves up the list, but alas, time is against him. His first professional MMA fight didn't come until he was 27, and he turns 36 in a month while beginning to suffer from injuries and the lure of professional boxing. Ngannou might well have been No. 1 on this list if he had started in MMA when he was 20 years old, but that will have to remain a hypothetical.

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