Odds-makers don’t see a repeat of the first time Ngannou met Lewis.
News recently broke that the UFC is reportedly looking to move on from a big money match-up between former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and current UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. Instead, the promotion is said to be eyeing Derrick Lewis as The Predator’s first title challenger.
Quickly Vegas began setting their odds for a potential Ngannou vs. Lewis, match-up. According to MMA Fighting those initial odds were set at:
Derrick Lewis +275 (11/4)
Francis Ngannou -350 (2/7)
Those odds have moved slightly in the past day or so, with Ngannou’s price going down to -360 and Lewis’ up to +285.
If this fight does get made clearly the bookies do not believe it will go down like the last time these men met.
The first fight between Ngannou and Lewis occurred at UFC 226 in 2018. Lewis won the lackluster affair by unanimous decision, with many onlookers bemoaning the lack of action and activity from both fighters.
The loss was Ngannou’s second Octagon defeat, coming on the heels of his loss to Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 220 a few months prior. Since those two losses Ngannou has been unstoppable.
He’s wrecked Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and, most recently, Miocic in one of the most brutal streaks in recent memory. Last month’s KO of Miocic, to win the UFC title, was the first fight in that streak to make it past one-minute and 12-second mark of the first round.
Lewis’ record since the first fight is not as stellar as Ngannou’s, but is still mightily impressive. After beating Ngannou he hit Alexander Volkov with a walk-off KO at UFC 229.
After that he unsuccessfully challenged Daniel Cormier for the heavyweight title. He then lost, via TKO, to Junior dos Santos.
Since the JDS loss, he’s won four in a row versus Blagoy Ivanoc, Ilir Latifi, Aleksei Oleinik and Curtis Blaydes.