Alistair Overeem Questions Francis Ngannou’s Punching Power Record

On his rise up the heavyweight ranks, surging UFC contender Francis Ngannou has stood out not only due to his freakish physique, but mainly due to his tremendous power, as four of his five Octagon victories have come by way of T/KO, with two of them being in the first round.

And ahead of his toughest test to date, a bout against veteran Alistair Overeem at UFC 218 tomorrow night (Dec. 2, 2017) in Detroit, Michigan, Ngannou set a world record at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada for punching power.

Overeem, however, doesn’t seem to be too impressed.

“Fake news,” Overeem told MMA Junkie. “It’s just whatever. He’s got the hardest punching power, because I didn’t punch on that (expletive) machine.”

Although he dismissed the record, Overeem isn’t downplaying “The Predator” as an opponent, as he said that Ngannou deserves to be in the position he’s in:

“He definitely deserves this fight,” Overeem said. “The guy looks like a beast. He’s on a nine-fight winning streak. He’s doing great, he looks great. He looks awesome. You can see what he’s done with the competition. He’s got that one-punch power. He does deserve to be here, and it’s going to be a very exciting fight. I’m in the best shape of my life.”

As far as the power goes, Ngannou feels as if he can put any man away with a big shot:

“That force can put everyone down if you connect at the perfect position,” Ngannou told TMZ. “Even less than that. We are not a machine. We are just human.”

How do you expect this fight to play out?