Francis Ngannou sent a classy message to Jairzinho Rozenstruik, who he knocked out in 20 seconds on the main card of UFC 249 last weekend.
While Ngannou treated Rozenstruik like he was his arch nemesis, he quickly proved post-fight that he has nothing but respect for his vanquished foe.
Not long after the action concluded, Ngannou sent Rozenstruik a classy post-fight message.
I want to thank @JairRozenstruik for sharing the octagon with me tonight. I have nothing but respect for a man who believes in himself. Keep going bro, hope to see you around ✊🏾 #WAKANDAFOREVER🙅🏿♂🙅🏿♂ #ufc249
— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) May 10, 2020
“I want to thank @JairRozenstruik for sharing the octagon with me tonight. I have nothing but respect for a man who believes in himself. Keep going bro, hope to see you around.”
Ngannou also gave Rozenstruik some props in a post to Instagram, which included a photo of them together post-fight.
View this post on Instagram
“It’s just about business and nothing more. Always respect the business partner.”
With his victory over Rozenstruik, Francis Ngannou is now on a four-fight win-streak. Those wins have come against top-flight foes in Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, and Junior dos Santos—the latter two being former UFC heavyweight champions. All of those victories have come by way of knockout. Ngannou scored three of those four knockout wins in less than a minute, while the fourth took him just 1:11.
With this destructive streak behind him, there’s now no denying that Ngannou is the next man in line for a UFC heavyweight title shot once champ Stipe Miocic and former champ Daniel Cormier settle their score in a yet unscheduled trilogy fight.
This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 5/11/2020.