Francis Ngannou is quickly rising up the heavyweight rankings.
“The Predator” extended his winning streak to nine when he starched former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight title holder Andrei Arlovski at UFC on FOX in Denver.
Ngannou has yet to go the distance in victory. Of his 10 wins, six have ended in knockout while four were finished via submission. The Cameroonian bruiser fighting out of Paris, France spoke with the media during the post-fight press conference. He’s targeting three fighters with one of them holding the highest priority:
“I’m talking about Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem, but I’m just talking about them because I think that Cain Velasquez is injured. If he’s (good to go), I am ready for him. He’s the next one, the one I would like to fight.”
Velasquez is a former UFC champion. He was set to face the man who beat him for the title in a rematch at UFC 207. The American Kickboxing Academy fighter was forced to pull out of the fight after revealing his back issues.
Velasquez recently underwent successful back surgery, so Ngannou will likely be taking another bout before facing him.
As far as Junior dos Santos goes, he was originally scheduled to meet Stefan Struve at a UFC event in Halifax next month. When Struve went down with a torn labrum, “Cigano” was left without a dance partner. A replacement could not be found and dos Santos was pulled from the card.
It doesn’t appear he’ll be doing battle with Ngannou at this time. While it isn’t a done deal, discussions are in place for dos Santos to fight current champion Stipe Miocic in a title bout at UFC 211. The two fought back in Dec. 2014 and dos Santos walked out of there with a controversial unanimous decision.
Overeem is booked to face Mark Hunt at UFC 209. If Hunt’s legal issues with the UFC don’t hinder the match-up, then Ngannou’s best bet may be to throw down with Ben Rothwell.
