Home

UFC

One Championship Heavyweight Champion Brandon Vera Calls Out Francis Ngannou for a Belt-for-Belt Matchup

Published 04/09/2021, 5:30 AM EDT

Follow Us

Francis Ngannou has the world at his feet right now. ‘The Predator’ violently knocked out Stipe Miocic to crown himself ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’. The options in front of Ngannou are now limitless and range from a match against the ‘GOAT’ Jon Jones to a rematch against Derrick Lewis. 

Being a champion in any weight class in the UFC means having a target on your back, as there are not only fighters from the UFC, but also from other organizations that are calling out Francis Ngannou. Ex-UFC fighter, Brandon Vera, is one such name. 

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

In a chat with The Schmo, ‘The Truth’ said, “That being said, maybe not now, maybe not next year, but Mr Francis Ngannou, one day, maybe we can go belt-for-belt. That’d be a good time….. I’m glad I put it out there. I’m glad the rest of the world gets to hear it. Cause it is what needs to happen sooner or later.”

Read: Five Surprising Facts About UFC Announcer Bruce Buffer

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Brandon Vera slams the UFC for not paying Jon Jones enough to face Francis Ngannou

The Schmo also asked Vera who he thought would be the heavyweight champion in the UFC at the end of 2020 and if he thought a fight between Jones and Ngannou would take place. 

He said, “My money is still on Francis, I don’t think that fight (between Jones and Ngannou) will happen. I don’t think the UFC would bend to ensure the fighters are taken care of respectfully and with what they deserve. Cause can you imagine Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou? That’s probably going to be the biggest payday that the UFC is ever going to make, and they don’t want to share at least a quarter of that with the athletes that are going to make it happen? So I doubt it is ever going to happen.”

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

Vera is the current heavyweight champion at ONE Championship. He won the vacant belt against Paul Cheng with a stunning first-round knockout win. He has defended the belt twice against the likes of Hideki Sekine and Mauro Cerilli. Both defenses came via first-round knockouts. 

In his most recent fight, Aung La Nsang knocked him out in the first round and derailed his bid to become a two-division champion. Vera will hope to bounce back in his next title defense against Arjan Bhullar and keep the belt-for-belt fight alive. 

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>