I'm a UFC legend who fought Brock Lesnar, Stipe Miocic and Vitor Belfort – but no-one hit me harder than 'The Predator'
06/03/2024 16:00
Alistair Overeem has unsurprisingly named Francis Ngannou as the hardest-hitting opponent he fought during his legendary career.
'The Demolition Man' won multiple world titles in MMA and kickboxing before recently walking away from combat sports after an epic 25-year run.
Overeem famously knocked out Brock Lesnar in his UFC debut before beating Frank Mir, Fabricio Werdum, Sergei Pavlovich and several other heavyweight contenders.
The 43-year-old suffered 15 knockout losses during a career that saw him take shots from Stipe Miocic, Chuck Liddell, Mark Hunt, Vitor Belfort and many more big-hitting MMA legends.
However, he says one man's power stands out from the rest.
“That is a good question," Overeem replied when talkSPORT.com asked him who's the hardest-hitting opponent he ever fought.
"The heaviest puncher ever? Actually, yes. Francis Ngannou."
Ngannou lifted Overeem, who is 6ft 4in and weighs around 18 stone, off his feet with an uppercut KO that left the Dutchman unconscious on the floor at UFC 218 in December 2017.
The 37-year-old went on the win UFC gold by doing a similar thing to Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 in March 2021 before parting ways with Dana White's league after just one title defence.
Overeem was one of the few people backing Ngannou to pull off a monumental upset in his boxing debut against WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury last October.
'The Predator' scored a knockdown and some people considered him unlucky to walk away from his first squared circle bout on the wrong end of a split decision.
Overeem was impressed with his old rival's performance in defeat.
He added: “To be honest, I think Ngannou did great."
"I mean, he knocked him down. I think did fantastic in that performance. First boxing fight ever and you go the distance, and you knock him down.
“Tyson Fury had to go on autopilot to beat him in a very safe way.
“That's what happened, Tyson Fury felt threatened and switched to his high-level autopilot, which he is good at, and that was how he won."
Ngannou's second boxing bout is set to take on Friday night.
The Cameroonian KO artist will test his power against former two-time heavyweight boxing world champion Anthony Joshua at 'Knockout Chaos' in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Another punch like the one he landed on Overeem will set Ngannou up for a possible fight for all four major heavyweight boxing titles in just his third pro bout.
Fury will square off against Oleksandr Usyk for all the marbles on May 18, and the winner is expected to face off against Joshua or Ngannou before 2024 is over.
