Francis Ngannou is the obvious two-word answer to the question about who hits the hardest in mixed martial arts. However, former champ champ Daniel Cormier thinks otherwise.

DC was calling the UFC Vegas 19 main event on Saturday night and reacted to Lewis’s KO of Curtis Blaydes like we all did – WWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOHHHHH. After the fight, Cormier offered high, high praise for “The Black Beast.”

The Black Beast!!!!!! @Thebeast_ufc has the most power ever

— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) February 21, 2021

Many fans took issue with the statement, arguing that Lewis was #2, and there can only be one – “The Predator.” Cormier responded to that on the latest episode of the DC & Helwani podcast.

Everyone started going Francis, Francis, Francis. People — there is a reason Francis Ngannou was so tentative in the fight against Derrick Lewis, argued Cormier, as transcribed by Abhinav Kini for Middle Easy. It’s the only time he’s ever fought like that. Francis just bullrushes everybody from Stipe Miocic to Alistair Overeem. Almost a blatant disregard for them and their power.

He stood and took pictures with Derrick Lewis because of the power coming back in his direction. So let’s not go acting as if Derrick Lewis doesn’t have power to match anyone in the heavyweight division, even Francis Ngannou. And when you talk about knockouts, nobody has more than Derrick so how do you say that another guy has more power than him? And that’s not a knock on Francis — that’s just reality.

Here’s the most Most KOs in UFC History list:

1. 12 knockouts
Derrick Lewis and Vitor Belfort

2. 11 knockouts
Matt Brown, Thiago Santos, Anthony Johnson, Anderson Silva

3. 10 knockouts
Donald Cerrone, Junior dos Santos, Cain Velasquez, Michael Bisping, Chuck Liddell

4. 9 knockouts
Francis Ngannou, Max Holloway, Stipe Miocic, Alistair Overeem, Andrei Arlovski, Rich Franklin

While Vitor Belfort is a legend, getting to that #1 spot took him 18 years. Lewis did it in seven years. Francis Ngannou is at 5.5 years. Ngannou gets a shot at his 10th KO in a rematch vs. heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 260 on March 27. But at the rate heavyweights fight, He’s not all that likely to surpass Lewis’s 12 by his seventh year. And “The Black Beast” has not stopped fighting …

So, UG, weighing all the evidence, who hits the hardest in MMA?