In a division lacking fresh and available title contenders, No. 4-ranked UFC heavyweight Francis Ngannou has stuck out as a potential future challenger to champion Stipe Miocic’s throne.
At just 30 years of age, the hard-hitting Ngannou has won five consecutive UFC bouts, with all five of those victories coming by way of stoppage. Three of those victories have also come in the first round.
After dispatching former champion Andrei Arlovski with a brutal first-round knockout last January, “The Predator” was signed on to face another former champion in Junior Dos Santos at September’s UFC 215 from Edmonton, Canada. The bout represented not only the biggest of his career; but with a win, Ngannou would most likely earn himself a heavyweight title shot.
Due to the high stakes of the fight, it wasn’t surprising to see Ngannou voice his anger after it was announced yesterday (Aug. 18, 2017) that Dos Santos was flagged by USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) for a potential doping violation, which essentially forced him out of the fight.
I’m very very angry!!!
Almost done with training camp and they just announced that my opponent is out for #ufc215
— Francis NGannou (@francis_ngannou) August 18, 2017
Ngannou has since campaigned for a fight with No. 1-ranked Alistair Overeem, but losing out on his chance to do battle with “Cigano” may actually serve as a blessing in disguise for “The Predator”.
When looking at the heavyweight title picture, Miocic has already beaten fighters ranked Nos. 1, 2 and 5. That leaves Ngannou and ex-titleholder Cain Velasquez as the lone top five contenders that have yet to receive a crack at Miocic, and it just so happens that the champion is in need of an opponent.
There have been rumors that the UFC was interested in booking Miocic against Velasquez, but the oft-injured Velasquez is no sure thing at this point in his career.
Once considered to be quite possibly the very best heavyweight of all-time, Velasquez has spent the majority of the last few years dealing with physical setbacks. He fought just once in 2015, once in 2016, and he’s spent all of 2017 on the sidelines thus far.
Sure, a bout between Miocic and Velasquez would be highly intriguing, but it’s unclear whether or not the Mexican-American is even healthy enough to fight at this point.
One man who is healthy and ready, however, is Ngannou.
Miocic has discussed his displeasure with his contract situation in recent memory, but if he can handle those issues with the UFC, he’ll need an opponent. At this point, there is simply no better option than “The Predator”.
In addition to fighting Velasquez, there were also some rumors indicating that Miocic could return at UFC 216 in October. If that reigns true, the UFC could simply push Ngannou back a month and book an interesting heavyweight title fight on a card in desperate need of a main event.
He may be ‘angry’ that he lost a chance to fight Dos Santos, but Ngannou may have also skyrocketed to the top of the heavyweight title picture in the process.
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