UFC Declined an Interim Title at Heavyweight Says Francis Ngannou

Published 11/25/2020, 12:54 AM EST

It has been a tough year for Francis Ngannou. Despite being the Undisputed number one contender, he has not been able to fight for the belt this year. This is mainly because champion Stipe Miocic was involved in his trilogy fight against Daniel Cormier that ended in August.

‘The Predator’ has now fought only once in 2020. The inactivity is a shame for a person who is in the prime of his career and on a red hot streak. As things stand it looks as though it will be early 2021 before Francis gets another fight in the UFC. This means that he will be out of action for over a year. It is certainly not an ideal scenario for a title fight.

Read: Francis Ngannou frustrated with wasting his prime years without fighting

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Francis Ngannou gives his thoughts on an Interim title fight

In a recent interview with Morning Kombat, Brian Campbell asked Ngannou if he was interested in an interim title fight. ‘The Predator’ replied saying, “I was interested in that idea for my last fight. Because I was on three-fight win streak first round. By the way in the same card that I fought, Justin Gaethje fought for the interim title he was in the same spot as me…..We thought we should have an interim title to keep the division going but the UFC said no.”

Francis continued, “If the interim title was lined up on that fight, I think I would not have been stuck here being not active. There would have been something for me right now.”

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Francis finds himself in a tough spot right now. Even though he is the number one contender, he has made it clear that he does not want to sit out for a year.

Derrick Lewis takes on Curtis Blaydes this weekend. If an interim title fight were to be made it would be against the winner of this fight. However, if ‘Razor’ wins, an interim fight might not materialize given he is 0-2 against ‘The Predator’

However, if Lewis wins, it will be an excellent opportunity for Francis to avenge his loss against ‘The Black Beast’ and in the process win the interim title.

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What do you think the UFC should do with the heavyweight division in general and with Francis? Let us know in the comments below.

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Written by:

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.

UFC Declined an Interim Title at Heavyweight Says Francis Ngannou

Francis Ngannou gives his thoughts on an Interim title fight

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