Francis Ngannou wants another heavyweight title shot and he believes he has deserved it.
Since he lost to Stipe Miocic at UFC 220, he lost to Derrick Lewis and then beat Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, and Junior dos Santos all by knockout in the first round. Now, he is expecting the next title shot even though Miocic-Daniel Cormier could have a trilogy fight.
“My concern is not about Daniel Cormier having a trilogy,” Ngannou to MMA Fighting. “They can have a trilogy or a four-ogy or a five-ogy, whatever they want to. My concern is just about my turn, about my title fight. I can fight Stipe and then the fight after [can be the trilogy] I don’t have no problem with that. My only problem is me fighting for the title. I deserve it.
“I deserve it based on my last three performances. I’m just expecting the title shot. Then whatever happens between DC and Stipe, if they decide to solve it, I don’t have a problem with that. I will be excited to see that trilogy but right now I have to fight for the title, which makes sense.”
Meanwhile, the question of, would Miocic-Ngannou 2 be any different is something many have wondered. It was a dominating performance from the champ and whether or not Ngannou has worked on his takedown defense is still unknown.
Yet, Francis Ngannou is certain the fight would go differently.
“The biggest difference now is that I have increased my experience and I understand more about the fighting game. My biggest change would be not to underestimate Stipe as I did before,” Ngannou said. “The difference would be how to prepare to fight and then how to [condition] my body in training camp as a challenger. How to set up everything compared to the first time.
“Once again, the first time was a mess. I didn’t know what I was doing there. It helped me to understand a lot of things. It helped me to learn. It helped to understand a lot of things. To know how things work.”