“He’s just really trying to ignore me. That’s what it seems like.”
UFC president Dana White has insisted that Derrick Lewis is next in line to fight Francis Ngannou for the heavyweight title, but ‘The Black Beast’ thinks ‘The Predator’ still has his sights set on a superfight with Jon Jones.
Lewis claims that Ngannou has been ignoring him, which is why the fight hasn’t yet been made official, but understands the champ’s frustration regarding Jones.
“It’s not really official yet,” Lewis told MMA Junkie during a recent media scrum. “But I don’t know. He seem like he still wanna keep going back and forth with Jones. He’s just really trying to ignore me. That’s what it seems like.”
Lewis, who beat Ngannou in a mightily lackluster decision in 2018, has no problem accepting another fight if Ngannou does go on to defend his title against Jones.
“It’s really not frustrating at all. I don’t care,” Lewis said. “I want him to take all the time he can. He wanna show his belt around for his country, that’s fine. So I’m here whenever he ready. But if not, that’s fine, too. If he wanna fight Jones, he can fight Jones; I’ll fight Stipe. Or if they want me to fight Jones, I’ll fight Jones. It doesn’t matter.”
Jones was originally expected to fight Ngannou in his heavyweight debut, but the former can’t seem to come to an agreement with the UFC on fighter pay. ‘Bones’ was initially frustrated with the situation but is currently enjoying his time on the sidelines after a ‘decade of wins’ at the top.
I’m really not sure when I’ll be fighting next, but some downtime after a decade of wins is a nice little change up right now. https://t.co/fi8XSLLidD
— BONY (@JonnyBones) May 17, 2021
White claims Ngannou vs. Lewis will take place in the summer, but no date or venue has been announced.