Justin Gaethje
Justin Gaethje put together a masterpiece against Tony Ferguson, a man few have been able to hit, let alone stun multiple times over the course of five rounds. Gaethje’s hands were so stunningly accurate that it seemed like he’d replaced hands with homing missiles. Sweeping left hooks and heavy straight rights connected time and time again as he countered Ferguson’s forward pressure and moved toward the former interim champ.
The performance seemed like the culmination of the “new” Gaethje, the one that understood how to avoid punishment while also still delivering those highlight reel moments. Before the fifth round began, Gaethje sat on the stool clearly loving the moment, but with help from coach Trevor Wittman, he remembered the two times he got too comfortable and was stopped against Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier. With those failures in mind, Gaethje went right back to dishing damage and avoiding Ferguson’s full arsenal of attacks.
Now, he earned his long-awaited shot at Khabib Nurmagomedov and UFC gold.
Francis Ngannou
There shouldn’t be any doubt about who the most terrifying puncher is on the roster. It’s Francis Ngannou, who only needed 20 seconds to take out Jairzinho Rozenstruik. To Rozenstruik’s credit, he called for the fight, but as Ngannou said afterward, Ngannou knew Rozenstruik didn’t know what he was getting himself into with the callout.
It was Ngannou’s eighth first-round stoppage inside the Octagon and fourth straight win. On his current winning streak, Ngannou spent less than three total minutes in the cage while putting away Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos and Rozenstruik. The only thing in the way of his second shot at the title is the DC-Stipe trilogy fight, but when his time comes, it’s hard to imagine he won’t have gold wrapped around his waist soon.
