One of the most fascinating heavyweight title fights in recent memory has been booked. And we won’t have to wait very long for it.
Stipe Miocic will defend the belt against Francis Ngannou in the main event of UFC 220 on Jan. 20 in Boston, sources confirmed with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani on Wednesday. MMAjunkie was the first to report the news.
Ngannou (11-1) is coming off a huge, first-round knockout over Alistair Overeem just last weekend at UFC 218 in Detroit. The Cameroon native by way of France has won all six of his UFC fights, all of them by finish and all but one coming in the first round. The 6-foot-5 Ngannou, 31, recently moved from Paris to Las Vegas, where he trains at the UFC Performance Institute. He’s bein pegged by the promotion as a future superstar.
Miocic (17-2) would set the UFC record for most consecutive heavyweight title defenses at three with a win over Ngannou. The Cleveland area native has won his last five fights, all by knockout. Miocic, 35, won the belt from Fabricio Werdum in May 2016 and has successfully defended it against Alistair Overeem and Junior dos Santos.
UFC 220 already had a viable main event. Daniel Cormier will defend his UFC light heavyweight title against Volkan Oezdemir on the card. That matchup has now been bumped down to the co-main event to make way for Miocic vs. Ngannou.
QuapsyWigman on December 7th, 2017 at 00:54 UTC »
WAIT .
We're going to get a LHW and HW title fight on the same card? What the fuck.
Biplomath on December 7th, 2017 at 00:49 UTC »
Cain died for this. These motherfuckers will be throwing nuclear bombs at each other for our entertainement, my hype is off the charts.
herefortheyuks on December 7th, 2017 at 00:45 UTC »
Good call having DC/Volkan as co-main. DC is a legit ppv headliner but volkan is still fairly unknown outside the hardcore fan base. Heavyweight champ vs exciting contender who the UFC has really been pushing plus DC should get a few more eyes than DC alone. Both are great fights, i love it.