Home

UFC

BREAKING: Stipe Miocic To Defend Heavyweight Belt Against Francis Ngannou – Dana White Provides An Update

Published 10/24/2020, 1:47 PM EDT

Follow Us

Stipe Miocic has cemented his position as the greatest heavyweight of all time. The Ohio-based has defended his belt four times now, which is a record in the heavyweight division. On the way to the top, Miocic has defeated some of the best to fight in the division. The likes of Cormier, Dos Santos, Overeem have all fallen to the current champion.

However, as the saying goes, getting to the top is easy, but staying there is difficult. The UFC always matches Stipe up against new and hungry challengers, who are desperate to claim his belt. Francis Ngannou is no exception to this rule.

Stipe Miocic Vs Francis Ngannou; Dana White provides an update

Dana White recently appeared in an interview with TMZ Sports. In the interview, the reporter asked Dana if the rumors about Stipe Miocic Vs Francis Ngannou being targeted for UFC 256 were true. The UFC President replied, “Yeah, that fight won’t be ready till March”. 

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest UFC stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

When asked if it would happen in March, Dana added, “It could yeah. I mean, that’s the goal. We’ll see what happens.” 

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Francis Ngannou has been a monster at heavyweight ever since his debut with the promotion. Four straight finishes earned him his first title shot against the champion. However, at UFC 220 ‘The Predator’ was completely outclassed by Stipe Miocic.

In the fight, Stipe was able to land a staggering 200 total strikes, most of which were on the ground. The Champion was also able to secure six takedowns and had a ground control time of over 15 minutes. It was clear that Ngannou had a lot of work to do before he could challenge for the belt again. 

After his loss against Stipe, ‘The Predator’ succumbed to another loss against Derrick Lewis. However, ever since that loss, he has been a man invigorated. He has finished his last four opponents on the trot and all inside the first round. There is no doubt that he is the number one contender. 

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

However, following his wars with Daniel Cormier, it appears Stipe will take time to get ready for the re-match. If the fight were to happen in March, it would be almost a year off for Francis. He has been extremely vocal about not wanting to wait around. At this stage, the biggest question is whether he will take another fight to stay active or bide his time for till the title fight is official. 

Do you think Francis should wait till Stipe is ready? Or should he fight once again before facing the champion? 

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Kevin Binoy

1,289Articles

One take at a time

Kevin Binoy is an MMA author at EssentiallySports. He earned a Bachelor's degree from Fergusson College and has been covering sports professionally for over two years. Besides working with the MMA writing team, Kevin is a core member of the organization's web stories team and is responsible for delivering engaging MMA web stories.
Show More>