Cannonier rocked and dropped his man with a powerful uppercut, then swarmed his man with heavy ground strikes until referee Marc Goddard stepped in to mercifully call off the contest and hand "The Killa Gorilla" a second-round stoppage win.

READ MORE: Coming home: Khabib Nurmagomedov says homecoming title fight in Russia is 'highly possible'

Cannonier has consistently flown under the radar since making his way down from heavyweight to middleweight. But his performances are becoming harder and harder to ignore, and the 35-year-old said it was time people respected him for his fighting skills.

"There was a lot of people writing me off, probably because you don't know me because I don't run my mouth," he said after his victory.

"I don't use my mouth to let people know how I fight. You're going to have to watch me to know how I do my thing.

"So the more you guys avoid me, the better I'm going to get and the harder it's going to be to beat me.

"Eventually, it’s going to be for the belt. It might as well be next to give everybody else a chance to get their hands on it before I get too good for anybody."

The night's co-main event saw debuting Danish Olympic wrestler Mark O. Madsen deliver a dominant display to claim a 72-second TKO finish of fellow lightweight Danilo Belluardo, while Brazilian former lightweight ace Gilbert Burns claimed the scalp of Gunnar Nelson with a unanimous decision victory at welterweight.

And another Danish hero, Nicolas Dalby, made a winning return to the UFC after three years away, with a strong display earning him a unanimous decision victory over Alex Oliveira in the opening bout of the main card.