Dana White on Francis Ngannou title shot: ‘We have another fight lined up for Cormier’
Last night, in the main event of the UFC’s first-ever card on ESPN, former UFC heavyweight title challenger Francis Ngannou picked up arguably the biggest victory of his career, deflating the returning Cain Velasquez in less than 30 seconds.
Post fight, the victorious Francis Ngannou called for a heavyweight title shot opposite reigning champion Daniel Cormier.
Given that Ngannou has won his last two fights with lightning quick knockouts, and that Cormier is a friend and training partner of Cain Velasquez who might be interested in some vengeance, the callout actually made some sense. According to UFC President Dana White, however, the UFC currently has other plans for Cormier.
“Well yeah, Francis is there,” White told ESPN after the card wrapped up (via MMA Fighting). “Cormier’s hurt right now and we have another fight lined up for Cormier first so, we’ll see how this whole thing plays out.
While White says there is another fight in the works for Daniel Cormier, he would not divulge what that fight actually is, as Cormier is still recovering from injury.
“[Cormier] is not healthy yet so I would never announce a fight without it being done,” White said when pressed about Cormier’s next fight. “It makes no sense. I don’t even know when Cormier’s gonna be ready.”
Whatever the case, Francis Ngannou is now inarguably one of the top contenders in the UFC heavyweight division — quite impressive considering he was being widely written off following his back to back decision losses to Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis in the first half of 2018.
Do you think Francis Ngannou deserves another crack at the heavyweight title?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 2/17/2019.
Topics:
Dana White Daniel Cormier Francis Ngannou UFC
