When fighters are second best at anything, it usually feels like failure.
But when that thing is power-punching and the guy ahead of you in the line is Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson, well, you kind of have to take that as a W.
Don’t be fooled by the bizarre finishes in Jimi Manuwa’s victories over Ryan Jimmo, Cyrille Diabate and Kyle Kingsbury because the lack of a clean knockout in each of the Brit’s first three UFC fights does not reflect an inability to put opponents to sleep.
#UFCFacts: @POSTERBOYJM lands with 59.6% of his strikes! Way above the UFC average of 42%! 👊 pic.twitter.com/MXwhRK6iGx
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) March 15, 2017
While an eye injury to Kingsbury and respective leg injuries to both Jimmo and Diabate handed ‘The Poster Boy’ a trio of successive wins in the Octagon, Manuwa proved his finishing talent in no uncertain terms with his stunning knockout over Ovince Saint-Preux in Manchester last October.
Put plainly, when Manuwa hits you you stay hit.
And his explosiveness on the feet has resulted in a bold claim from UFC colour commentator Joe Rogan.
Ahead of this weekend’s light heavyweight headliner at UFC London, Rogan has revealed that he considers Manuwa the second most dangerous knockout artist in the world at 205lbs.
“When you look at Jimi Manuwa’s recent performance against Ovince Saint-Preux, he looked outstanding in that fight and showed all of his potential,” Rogan began.
“He put on a show! Jimi Manuwa took him out and made it look easy.
“Outside of ‘Rumble’ Johnson, I personally think that Jimi Manuwa is the scariest knockout artist in the division.”
Not too shabby!
A scenario in which we see a rematch between Manuwa and ‘Rumble’ is not exactly beyond the realms of possibility as a victory for the Londoner over opponent Corey Anderson in London could see him rewarded with a title shot against the winner of the upcoming title fight between champion Daniel Cormier and Johnson, which takes place at UFC 210 next month.
