Even before the UFC 241 ended, Francis Ngannou demanded a fight with the winner of that contest. The 32-year old is sure that he deserves another chance to fight for the heavyweight title
The 6-foot-4 and 255-pound monster said that he feels very frustrated with the recent talks about the possible match between Stipe Miocic and Jon Jones, which would delay his opportunity to fight for the title.
“They are not really clear on the answer of me deserving a title shot or me fighting next or not. I don’t understand why it’s not clear for them. It’s a very frustrating situation right now,”
said Ngannou.
He also believes that he should have the advantage over Jon Jones, who hasn’t been in any of the combinations for the title fight. On the other hand, Ngannou is constantly near that position but hasn’t got any info from the organization about his future.
According to his words, the French fighter would be very displeased if he has to wait for additional time.
“I think I’m next in line, it should be me,” he said. “Yes, I would be upset about that.”
Ngannou had one title shot, back at UFC 220 in January 2018, but he lost to Stipe Miocic via unanimous decision. He was outsmarted by the American champion in that clash. Miocic had a good strategy which denied all of Ngannou’s power strikes, while he created himself an advantage on the ground, where the Frenchman isn’t that dominant.
After that fight, Ngannou lost against Derrick Lewis but bounced back with three consecutive wins, all of them by a first-round knockout. Due to that, he believes that all other title contenders are not good enough to challenge Miocic. Plus, he wants to get even with the champion for the defeat.
“(Miocic and I) still, have to do what has to be done,” the Frenchman said. “I think I’m in the spot now that I deserve the title shot.”
So far in his career, Ngannou had 14 wins and three losses. In those latest three triumphs, he defeated Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, and Junior dos Santos, which was also the Performance of the Night.
His frustration also comes from the fact that UFC isn’t giving any hints about their future actions.
“I don’t know exactly what is happening for the UFC executives. I don’t know what their mindset is,” the fighter stated.
From the organization’s point of view, this is easily understandable, as they want to attract publicity and create hype about the possible matches. They would later assess which one has the highest potential to generate profits and exploit that.
Meanwhile, for the fighters, this is not a very comfortable situation. They can’t plan anything, and also, some of them have to wait to have a fight they desire, even if all the circumstances are in their favor.
Right now, the fans aren’t that fired up about Ngannou fighting Miocic. While on the other side, the fight between Stipe and Jon Jones would be a blockbuster.
