With Jon Jones out of the Heavyweight championship picture for the time being, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is moving right along to the next man up. And that man is none other than Derrick Lewis, the person Dana White said will get the first shot at trying to dethrone current 265-pound champion Francis Ngannou.
Now, the promotion is circling a date and location for the championship fight.
According to Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports, UFC is looking at booking the rematch sometime in August in Houston, Texas. When looking at the promotion’s calendar, the only pay-per-view (PPV) event lined up for that month is UFC 265, which is scheduled to go down on Aug. 7, 2021.
The location is a no-brainer because “Black Beast” lives and trains in Houston. Plus, since UFC 262 — which also took place in Houston — welcomed back fight fans and sold out The Toyota Center, putting a home town favorite as headliner almost guarantees another big night for the promotion.
Lewis defeated Ngannou in their first fight at UFC 226 in July 2018, though the much-anticipated bout failed to live up to lofty expectations. In the end, “Black Beast” scored a lackluster unanimous decision win over “The Predator.” Lewis, though, is adamant the rematch will be much different.
At the moment, the only confirmed fight for UFC 265 is a women’s Bantamweight title fight between division queen, Amanda Nunes, taking on Julianna Pena.