Stipe Miocic first fought Francis Ngannou in 2018. At UFC 220, then-UFC heavyweight champions Miocic beat Ngannou by decision, out-boxing, out-grappling and out-pointing him along the way, and breaking a record for most UFC heavyweight championship title defenses in the process. The rematch, which took place today, just over three years later at UFC 260, came with the tagline "Biggest Baddest Rematch." While all of that is true, the most interesting adjective to describe the fight is one they didn't use: unknown.

Since Miocic beat Ngannou, he's had three fights all against the same opponent. He lost the first then won the next two against Daniel "DC" Cormier. In each of those second two, Miocic looked better every time; increasingly lean so he could move faster than his opponents and with more accurate boxing to make each strike matter.

While this was happening, Ngannou fought five times. Like Miocic, he lost his next fight and then went on to win his next four. What made the championship rematch so mysterious is that he won those four in a cumulative time of 2:44, all by KO/TKO.

That means he enters his second shot at the heavyweight championship of the world with his known attribute being that he hits hard and comes out swinging – and that's it. No other fighter with a record of 15-3, with all 15 wins by stoppage, could come into a pay-per-view main event with no real expectations.

So that's why everybody was shocked, including Miocic himself, when the ball rang and Ngannou waited. He's bull-rushed everybody for years, even when it didn't pay off, and here he was, stanced up, ready to throw a few jabs and find his range.

Heavyweight is a strange division; it's the only one where fighters don't want to come into the weigh-in touching the limit. Miocic weighed in at roughly 230 lbs while Ngannou came in significantly larger at just over 260. Because of this huge differential, UFC commentators Joe Rogan and the aforementioned DC thought this was a tactic to make sure he didn't get tired too quickly.

If that was the reason, it worked another way. Miocic, a fighter not afraid to lead but definitely with a preference for counter-striking, didn't know what to do. In the first round, he landed 100 percent of his attempted strikes; however, that was only eight, several of which were aimless leg kicks.

Roughly halfway through the round, Miocic went for a takedown and Ngannou stuffed it handily. This was the second, much larger surprise the challenger brought to the fight. It only came to light later in his career, but in his early MMA bouts, Ngannou didn't know the rules, he assumed the sport was essentially kickboxing with clinches allowed, so he never trained any offensive or defensive wrestling. In the first bout, when Miocic took him to the mat, he only got out of it via his immense strength.

Now he was fully prepared. Ngannou forced Miocic back to his feet and whaled on him. The champ weathered the storm and the round. When he went to his corner, he looked done. He sat totally still and only responded "I know" to his corner's advice to be more aggressive.

To be fair to him, he did – and walked right into Ngannou's third and final surprise. Early into Round 2, Miocic pushed the pace and hit a stinging jab. Instead of playing it safe like he did in the first bout, he tried to follow up with the second part of a one-two and found himself totally open to Ngannou's rejoinder. It only took one clear shot to the jaw to level the champion; Miocic fell awkwardly over his own legs and it took only one more punch while he was on the floor for referee Herb Dean to call it off.

Francis Ngannou knocked out Stipe Miocic at 52 seconds of the second round. Miocic was rightfully considered the best heavyweight of all time, and there he was, unconscious and stiff as a board following one real punch from Ngannou. This new champion is a truly terrifying presence.