He’s challenged for the heavyweight title, scored a handful of dramatic come-from-behind knockouts, and has maintained a place of residence in the Top 10 for the last five years. Since the start of 2018, the 35-year-old Houston resident has gone 5-2 with victories over Francis Ngannou, Alexander Volkov, and Blagoy Ivanov, and his losses coming to Daniel Cormier in a championship main event at UFC 230 and Junior Dos Santos four months later in a bout that earned Fight of the Night honors.
The quiet, yet charismatic heavyweight has done all of this while never really competing at full strength, but as he readies to return to the cage this weekend in another headlining assignment opposite Aleksei Oleinik, “The Black Beast” is feeling better than ever.