Francis Ngannou Knocked Out Cain Velasquez In 26 Seconds At UFC On ESPN

Francis Ngannou earned arguably the biggest win of his UFC career with a knockout victory over Cain Velasquez in just 26 seconds in the main event of UFC on ESPN Sunday night from Phoenix, Arizona.

Ngannou landed a right uppercut and a left hook before Velasquez’s knee gave out, and he was quickly able to finish the fight on the ground.

Ngannou burst onto the scene in 2017, with back-to-back wins over Andrei Arlovski (KO) and Alistair Overeem (TKO) before dropping consecutive losses in an embarrassing tilt against then-champion Stipe Miocic and another decision loss to Derrick Lewis. Ngannou bounced back in a big way, earning a first-round TKO victory against Curtis Blaydes in November, setting up a major opportunity to make another statement against Velasquez.

Sunday night was Velasquez’s first fight in more than two years, when he finished off Travis Browne in the first round of UFC 200 in July 2016. He was forced out of a fight against Fabricio Werdum in December and subsequently had back surgery in 2017.

At the time, ESPN noted Velasquez had “trouble standing upright for more than 10 minutes” due to the pain in his lower body. After Sunday’s fight, Velasquez was able to put weight on his leg, but it remains to be seen if he suffered any serious injury in his knee.