It looks like it’ll be a quick turnaround for Francis Ngannou, as he’s slated to fight Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title in January 2018.
Not even a week has passed since Francis Ngannou flattened Alistair Overeem at UFC 218, and now it appears as if his promised title shot against Stipe Miocic will come in just over a month.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto had tweeted on Wednesday that talks were progressing towards Miocic vs. Ngannou happening at UFC 220, then MMAjunkie reported that the fight was being targeted for the January 20th event, and now sources have told MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani we will see this titanic heavyweight clash take place in Boston.
Miocic (17-2) hasn’t fought since a quick TKO of Junior dos Santos at UFC 211, his second successful title defense. One more championship triumph will give him the all-time record for most title defenses by a UFC heavyweight champion. Stipe’s other defense was a first-round KO of Alistair Overeem at UFC 203.
Ngannou (11-1) is the talk of the MMA world with his rapid ascension to the top of heavyweight. The Frenchman by way of Cameroon is 6-0 in the UFC, with all of those wins coming via stoppage, including four by KO or TKO. Ngannou’s other win in 2017 was a fast beating of former champion Andrei Arlovski.
Both Miocic and Ngannou’s last four fights have all ended in the opening round.
According to MMA Fighting’s article, Miocic vs. Ngannou will serve as the main event, bumping the light heavyweight title fight between Daniel Cormier and Volkan Oezdemir to co-main status.