After talks seemingly came to a halt between Jon Jones and the UFC, it appears that there is a future heavyweight title fight being scheduled, although nothing is official as of yet. Former heavyweight title challenger and now contender Derrick Lewis was a guest on the Helwani Show podcast on ESPN on Wednesday and revealed that he has secured an upcoming title fight against defending champion, Francis Ngannou.
Contender over superstar
Derrick Lewis has reeled off four straight wins in the heavyweight division, after losing two consecutive fights, including a title fight against former champion Daniel Cormier, but is now right at the top of the heavyweight title picture. As Lewis was busy putting together his winning streak, former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was training and preparing for a move to heavyweight, which has still yet to happen.
Read More: Is Jon Jones worth $25 million in a super fight against Francis Ngannou
After Francis Ngannou defeated Stipe Miocic to win the heavyweight title at UFC 260, many were calling for Jones vs Ngannou, a big-prize heavyweight title fight, but Jones and the UFC couldn’t come to an agreement with the former 205-pound champion and reportedly move on to Lewis. There were many questions as to how much money was “fair” for Jones in a matchup against Ngannou, but recently “Bones” went public, responding to Dana White saying he asked for $30 million to fight.
A rematch with much higher expectations
Back in 2018 at UFC 226, Derrick Lewis fought Francis Ngannou in a very lackluster competition which had been labeled as one of the biggest letdown fights in recent memory. With very little action in their first matchup, Lewis, who was battling a back injury at the time, came away victorious but recently was a guest on the Joe Rogan Experience and expressed a desire to run it back with the champion. Now that he’s fully healthy and cemented himself as a top contender, Lewis believes he can be victorious over Ngannou once again, just with more action in the rematch.
While the UFC has yet to confirm or announce a fight between Lewis and Ngannou, at least one side of the equation is saying the fight is now, as long as the timing for the heavyweight champion lines up.
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