A heavyweight tilt between perennial division contenders Curtis Blaydes and Francis Ngannou headlined today’s UFC Beijing event.

The bout served as a rematch, as Francis Ngannou and Curtis Blaydes had previously met at UFC Fight Night 86 in April of 2016, with “The Predator” emerging victorious by way of second-round TKO (doctors stoppage).

Blaydes entered tonight’s event headliner on a five-fight win streak, his latest being a third-round TKO victory over former title challenger Alistair Overeem at UFC 225.

With that said, tonight’s rematch with Francis Ngannou almost seemed like a step in the wrong direction for Curtis Blaydes. Afterall, “The Predator” entered today’s main event on a two-fight losing skid, while Blaydes had arguably proven himself as the divisions number one contender.

Nonetheless today’s rematch went along as planned and unfortunately for Curtis Blaydes he once again succumbed to the power of Ngannou.

Francis was able to catch Curtis with a beautifully-timed overhand right which sent Blaydes crashing to the octagon floor. The perennial division contender, Blaydes, would scramble back to his feet but was sent back down to the canvas once again after eating another big shot from “The Predator”.

Two ground strikes later and the referee had seen enough and stepped in to call a stop to the action.

Shortly following his second-career stoppage loss to Francis Ngannou, Curtis Blaydes took to Twitter where he issued the following statement on today’s setback.

Took one on the chin tonight, I will be back with the same confidence #sometimesyourthenail #minorsetback #tooyoungtostopnow

— Curtis Blaydes (@RazorBlaydes265) November 24, 2018

“Took one on the chin tonight, I will be back with the same confidence #sometimesyourthenail #minorsetback #tooyoungtostopnow” – Curtis Blaydes

Who would you like to see Curtis Blaydes fight in his next octagon appearance? Sound off in the comments section PENN Nation!