Cameroonian MMA heavyweight star scores first round knockout

By Rédaction Africanews with AP

Cameroonian heavyweight star, Francis Ngannou, scored a first round knockout at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, on Saturday night.

He exchanged strikes and clinches with Brazilian Philipe Lins before finishing him with a sweeping left hand to the head in the final minute.

It was the veteran’s second mixed martial arts bout in four years and he immediately teased the possibility of new matches – with two names coming up.

After the fight, the former Ultimate Fighting Champion spoke of his desire to share the cage with American Jon “Bones” Jones one time before the two retire from MMA.

The superstars have never fought each other, despite being two of the most dominant heavyweight and light heavyweight champions in mixed martial arts history.

But this match could face difficulties as Jones is still technically under contract with the UFC despite retiring.

Jones, who watched the proceedings from Netflix’s commentary stage, told broadcasters he would fight Ngannou if he could get out of the contract.

The Cameroonian also exchanged banter with American professional boxer Jake Paul about a possible match.

Paul has made a boxing career out of beating martial artists.

Ngannou won the UFC belt in 2021 and unified it in 2022 before walking away from the world’s dominant MMA promotion.

He had taken just one MMA bout since then, and lost two big-money boxing matches to British heavyweight stars Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia.