The last place any UFC fighter wants to be is on the receiving end of a Francis Ngannou strike.
The Cameroonian can largely attribute his meteoric heavyweight rise to the dynamite contained in those fists of his.
In January 2018, Ngannou set up a heavyweight title fight with Stipe Miocic off the back of four first-round knockout victories, with his brutal flooring of Alistair Overeem still widely regarded as one of the greatest UFC knockouts of all time.
Francis Ngannou is the most powerful puncher that the UFC has even seen in its history
Yet Miocic resolutely refused to succumb to the same fate suffered by the likes of Overeem, Andrei Arlovski and Anthony Hamilton and completely dominated Ngannou over five rounds, winning via a lopsided unanimous decision.
Billed as the dawn of a new heavyweight era by pundits and fans alike, Ngannou was served a rude awakening as Miocic ensured that the bout did not develop into the slugfest predicted, instead putting on a masterclass in ground and pound to sap the confidence of Ngannou across 25 minutes of action.
In fact, the ramifications of that defeat by Miocic were clear for all to see six months on from his defeat in Boston.
The Cameroonian's fists contain dynamite and have taken him to the summit of the division
Ngannou's clash with Derrick Lewis at UFC 226 in Las Vegas has the unwanted title of the most boring heavyweight fight in UFC history.
Tensions were palpable in the build-up to this three-round contest. Lewis shoved Ngannou at the pre-fight press conference and the bookmakers offered big winnings for this bout going beyond the first five minutes, with both men renowned for their devastating knockout power.
Yet the fight went the distance and, much to the irritation of the watching masses, Ngannou barely pulled the trigger.
Lewis's 20 strikes landed across 15 minutes is a terrible showing, but Ngannou landed just 11 strikes all fight, with the Houston native being handed a unanimous decision victory as a result.
'That's the worst heavyweight fight I've ever seen,' commentator Joe Rogan said when the 'action' mercifully came to an end.
However, the Predator was seriously derailed four years ago and faced a confidence crisis
He landed just 11 strikes in his snoozefest against Derrick Lewis at UFC 226, his lowest point
It later emerged that Lewis was nursing a back injury throughout the fight, in what could be viewed as a mitigating factor for the American. But there was no such excuse for the gun-shy Ngannou, who looked a shadow of the man that savagely put down Overeem.
As a result, the Cameroonian came in for most criticism from fans, pundits and even UFC president Dana White, who launched a scathing rebuke of the Predator's mentality after the bout.
'Horrible,' White said in the immediate aftermath of Ngannou's performance. 'I think that he had a pretty quick rise here and obviously the fight over Alistair Overeem catapulted him.
'Everybody was talking about him. I thought he was going to be the next guy. I think his ego ran away with him. Big time. I can tell you that his ego absolutely did run away. The minute that happens to you in the fight game you see what happens – you start to fall apart.
UFC president Dana White has since revealed that they were considering cutting Ngannou
'I had some personal encounters with him, as did other people in the organization and this guy's ego was so out of control. Before the Stipe fight he took off and went to France. Didn't even really train for that fight. And you see the results. Well, then he comes back and he did train, but the ego is what hurt Francis Ngannou.'
